The Mini Adventures of the Rakuzan Team
by Active-mind-15
Summary: AU where the five starters for Rakuzan, Akashi, Mayuzumi and the Three Uncrowned Kings are all brothers living in the same house (who or where their parents are is none of my business *sips tea*). These are basically just mini episodes which contain some form of comedy and fluff, I suppose. Oh, and I fiddled with their ages a bit (or maybe a lot idk). Rated T for minor swearing.
1. Introduction to the family

**Okay hey guys. I know I should be working on my other fanfic but during the two months, two weeks and two days I had writer's block, I had all these KnB ideas in my head after reading so many comics online on Tumblr and such. And of course me, being the literal KnB trash that I am, decided that I should just write a fanfic to get these ideas out of my freaking head. This is mainly on here for my satisfaction and the fact that there aren't enough fanfics on the internet about Rakuzan; also the fact that I didn't want it to go to waste just sitting in a Word Document on my laptop.**

 **If you guys like it, that's fine. If you don't, I really don't care. I just didn't want it to waste away just sitting there.**

 **BEFORE I START:**

 **One thing to mention again is that I've fiddled with their ages. Akashi is now 14, the Three Uncrowned Kings are 16 and Mayuzumi is 18. This also means that anyone else is the GoM, including Kagami and Kuroko, will also be around the same age as Akashi. But yeah. I think that's all there is to mention.**

 ***DISCLAIMER* I do not own KnB or any of its characters.**

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Introduction to the family

"Oi…OI… _OI!_ KOTAROU! HOW LONG ARE YOU PLANNING ON SLEEPING?! YOU'LL MAKE US LATE, BAKA!"

A large-framed, dark-skinned, black-haired sixteen year old just burst into the bedroom, adjusting his school uniform and shouting up a storm as he rugby-tackled the person in question to the floor yelling something about how much they'll be in trouble if they were late. The person in question was a sixteen year old fair skinned boy with hair the same yellow as a leopard's fur and excited jade green eyes. He hit the floor with a thud and writhed in discomfort considering a certain someone had knocked him to the ground.

"Ack! Get off of me Eikichi!" Kotarou groaned as he tried to shift the massive weight known as his older brother off his body "I'm up! I'm up, okay?!" He trudged over to his closet and dragged out his uniform voicing his complaints all the while. When he began to get changed, Eikichi left the room to go and see what everyone else was doing. He knocked on the door to the left of Kotarou's room.

"Yo, Reo, you ready yet?" he said through the door. Deciding the occupant of the room didn't hear him, he opened the door to the bedroom and peered inside, spotting the person he was looking for sitting in front of a mirror, brushing his hair quite extensively.

"Is all that brushing really necessary?" Eikichi muttered as he sauntered over. Reo rolled his eyes in annoyance, stood up from his chair and flicked his straight black hair.

"Do you think this perfection just happens by accident?" he scoffed. "Please leave me in peace this morning if you can't handle my flawlessness." Eikichi grunted and left, most likely regretting entering the room in the first place. He grabbed his bag and clambered down the stairs into the kitchen, where he found the eldest brother, Chihiro, setting the table. Chihiro was eighteen years old and he had grey hair and grey eyes. His eyes in particular were very interesting, the pupils being devoid of colour with no indication of emotion. It really did make him unreadable sometimes. Although at home, he wasn't as isolated as people thought he was. If anything, his four younger brothers thought he was completely normal.

"Oh, Eikichi," Chihiro said as he grabbed five mugs from the cupboard "have you checked on the other two like I asked? Will they be down soon?" Eikichi gave an affirmative nod before going to sit down at the table right across from the youngest brother in the family. This boy was fourteen years of age with grenadine coloured hair and eyes. He was the average height for any teen his age but compared to the rest of his brothers, he actually looked quite small. At the moment, he was sitting at the table staring intensely down at a shogi board he had placed there, contemplating his next move.

"Seijuro," Chihiro called from the other side of the kitchen "I'm about to serve breakfast so you should put your shogi board away." Seijuro didn't take his eyes off of the board but answered him regardless.

"One moment, Chihiro-nii-san," he replies "I'm just about to win this one." The grey haired teenager sighed.

"Just put it away when you're done though."

"Mhmm…"

Reo and Kotarou waltzed into the kitchen not long after, and took their seats as Chihiro brought the food to the table. After a short blessing of the food, they began to eat. Soon, everyone's plates are empty and they were on their way.

School is a normal day for everyone. The usual classes, break times, eating lunch, chatting with friends and taking notes. The older four go to Rakuzan High School, while Seijuro goes to their middle school division. More importantly, they are all in the basketball clubs at their schools. Due to their immense skills, all of them are in teams in the first string and win virtually every game they play. Rakuzan was one of the strongest in basketball. However, in the middle school division, there were other very interesting people to add to the battle. The Rakuzan brothers did have many cousins Seijuro's age all in their own respective basketball teams. Those people were: Taiga and Tetsuya from Seirin, Shintarou from Shuutoku, Ryouta from Kaijo, Atsushi from Yosen, Daiki and Satsuki from Touou Gauken and Shōgo from Fukuda Sōgo; aside from their middle school cousins, the eldest cousin out of all of them was Shuuzo, who should be about nineteen, give or take a year. They usually came by their house often during holidays and were quite close. However, on days like this, where they had basketball practice in the afternoon, they were usually busy. Although, since club activities are cancelled for the day due to a school event in the evening over in Rakuzan, the five brothers went home to go and enjoy their day off practice.

Flash forward to about three hours since they got back from school it was around seven in the evening and Chihiro was in the kitchen bringing out groceries from a bag and setting them on the kitchen counter.

"Oi, you two, come help with dinner. And if you mess around with the remote, you'll break it." he said monotonously as he watched Kotarou and Eikichi fight over the TV remote.

"Why is it always us you tell off? Tell off the other two once in a while." Kotarou whined.

"Maybe I wouldn't tell you off if you actually did something that doesn't irritate me for a change. Besides, Reo and Seijuro came to the kitchen without me needing to tell them." He gestured over to Reo and Seijuro who were currently getting out pots and pans. Eikichi and Kotarou shared a look before grudgingly getting up from the couch and going into the kitchen to help.

"Ah, let me tie that for you Sei-chan!"

"Reo-nii-san, I'm perfectly capable of tying an apron by myself."

"But I want to do it anyway! I bought it the other day in town, you know. You look so adorable in it!"

"Is that so?"

Eikichi stopped in front of the two and looked the youngest brother up and down. He was wearing a red apron with the kuma bear on it; in fact, its face was the whole pattern. The designers must have felt the need to make the apron dotted with his face. Note to self, don't trust Reo with shopping. Was it adorable? Yes. But paired up with his cool and collected poker face, it looked more odd than adorable at the moment to the point where Eikichi had to let out a loud snort.

"HAHA! Some outfit you've got on chibi!" he sputtered through his laughter. Seijuro gazed up at him with a dangerous glint in his eyes as he picked up a knife from the counter.

"Are those your last words, Eikichi-nii-san?"

"Oi, put that down!"

"Sei-chan! What have we talked about?" Seijuro looked at Reo and sighed in resignation.

"Playing with knives is dangerous."

"And?"

"..."

" _And?_ "

"…Threatening people is bad."

"Hand it over."

Seijuro surrendered the sharp kitchen tool and went over to help Chihiro prep the ingredients. Dinner was as usual, it was hamburgers tonight and so everyone obviously had to do the prep work. When dinner was finished they all cleared the table and washed up the plates. After dinner was mainly just spent lounging around the house. Although the four oldest were mainly arguing over who would get the TV, after some time Seijuro just grabbed the remote and turned it to the shogi channel. They would've taken the remote from him, but he looked like he was enjoying himself so they just watched with him. By the time the match was over, it was nearly ten o'clock so everyone stood up from the couches in the living room.

"Right," Chihiro said "we should all start having our baths soon. Reo, you go first."

"Alright."

With that, he went upstairs and into the bathroom while everyone went to their rooms, waiting for him to finish. They all went to take their baths in a random order, Reo getting into his pyjamas quickly so he could sit Seijuro in between his legs and blow-dry his hair after he came out of the shower. Not that he couldn't do it by himself, but Reo insisted on doing these kinds of things and so Seijuro just let him.

After everyone's done, everyone always does their own respective thing in their room; Chihiro reading his light novel, Eikichi most likely getting in some push-ups, Kotarou playing a video game, Reo scrolling through his phone and Seijuro bringing the shogi board into his room to play one more round. Then, after around eleven, it was only a matter of time before everyone closes their eyes and slips away into a peaceful sleep awaiting to continue the cycle the next day.

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 **Okay, that's one chapter down. Yes, I plan to continue this for a bit. But not for a while. I'm gonna upload the other two chapters right after I upload this cause they're also just sitting there and I'm sick of it. After that I might leave it for a short amount of time. Good day.**


	2. I hate this game

**In this chapter, I'll have the brothers play a real life video game. It's really long but whatever. You'll find out what the game is obviously but I'm just doing another disclaimer to say that I don't own it nor do I own the plot in the game itself.**

 **There might be some slight OOC with Akashi if you squint hard enough but idk what you'd see it as. Okay, now you can read.**

* * *

I hate this game

It was a Friday evening and Seijuro had just gotten out of basketball practice. He took some extra time to go and put everything away in the gymnasium and take the notes for next week's practice to the office as his duty of vice-captain. Making his way back home, he walked a bit slower to admire the setting sun and enjoy the fresh air. Usually, the weeks were quite busy; so getting the opportunity to lessen the pace was quite refreshing. Lucky for him, he had no work to do this weekend so he really had all the time in the world. A walk that usually took him fifteen minutes ended up taking him twenty-five and he got home noticeably later than usual.

"I'm back." he announced casually as he stepped into the house and took off his shoes. He put his bag down at the entrance and was just about to head off to his room until he heard someone call his name.

"Ah, Sei! Perfect timing! Come over here."

Seijuro swivelled his head over to the sound of the voice to find Kotarou beckoning him into the living room. Walking over to his older brother, he went over and found him sitting on a cushion under the coffee table. Also in the living room was Eikichi, who was plugging a wire into their PS4 and then connecting it to the TV.

"Yo chibi." Eikichi said as he shoved his head behind the television to find the right outlet.

"Hello," Seijuro gave in response "Kotarou-nii-san, is there are reason you called me?"

"But of course!" he answered "We want you to play a game with us."

"A game? Is it another rematch for Mario Kart?"

"What—no, not that! I've already accepted the outcome." Kotarou mumbled as he remembers the time Seijuro absolutely destroyed him on Rainbow Road. Ten times. Consecutively. "The game we're going to be playing is _this_!" Kotarou reached down and grabbed a game case from the floor and showed it to Seijuro. The younger brother leaned down and looked at the front cover.

"Affected?" Seijuro read off the plastic game case. On the front cover was a Ouija Board on a table in what looked like an eerily lit room. He looked up from the game and eyed his brother suspiciously.

"It's a horror video game, isn't it?"

"Bingo!" Kotarou said excitedly "Doesn't it look cool?" Seijuro set the game down on the coffee table and stood himself up. "I'm not really a fan of horror games. The plot is usually quite predictable and that aspect of it makes the games uninteresting." Kotarou pouted.

"But this one is different!" he retorted obstinately "It's said to be extremely scary." Seijuro took one look at the console and then one look at his brother.

"I'm still not all that excited over these types of games." he concluded, sounding particularly uninterested "If you'll excuse me." He turned on his heels swiftly and began heading towards the stairs. Eikichi turns towards Kotarou upon hearing the younger brother's fading footsteps.

"Oi, Kotarou," he whispered "I think now would be the time to use plan B." Kotarou nods and feigns a disappointed look on his face.

"Ah~ it's a shame you don't want to play." Kotarou drawled "If you played Affected with us, I would've made you tofu soup as a reward for playing such a scary game." A ghost of a triumphant smile crept across Kotarou's face as the sound of footsteps walking towards the staircase suddenly stopped. After five seconds of what Kotarou would imagine being contemplation, him and Eikichi heard a quiet "Start up the PS4 I'll be down once I change" before the footsteps frantically ran upstairs. Kotarou and Eikichi looked at each other and high-fived. Mission accomplished.

~O~

About half an hour later, Seijuro comes downstairs in a white t-shirt and black sweatpants and sits himself down on the floor in the living room. Eikichi and Kotarou had already finished setting up and had just brought some snacks from the kitchen when he came in.

"There you are, Sei. Let's start the game."

Kotarou turned on the game console and handed the controller to Seijuro. The red head stared at his brother in confusion.

"Why am I playing the game? I thought you were going to play it."

"Ahhh come on, don't be shy; just give the game a go! I'm giving you the first honours." Kotarou said as he nudged the controller in his hand. Seijuro gazed down at the controller curiously and shrugged right before he felt some weird device being placed on his head. He looked around and suddenly a whole new virtual world was around him. He found himself in a small room with cracked peeling walls, a broken bed, a rusty wheelchair, ominous flickering lights and glass shards scattered all over the floor. He blinked in surprise.

"Kotarou-nii-san, what did you put on my head?"

" _That_ , my dear brother, is called an Oculus Rift."

"Oculus Rift?"

"You heard right, chibi." Eikichi said from behind him "It's the coolest way to play video games. It's basically like virtual reality. You put this thing on your head, and you see everything in the video game as if you are actually there. It's even better for horror games, so you won't be able to escape jumpscares just by turning your head the other way." It almost went unnoticed, but Kotarou saw for a fleeting second that Seijuro pursed his lips together. He had a feeling that the plot wasn't why he had no interest in playing horror games. He shared a look with Eikichi, who had also caught on and they nodded to each other. Through the duration of the game, they were going to keep a close eye on him, to see how he handles the jumpscares.

Seijuro looked around the room he was in until his eyes fell upon an elevator. Moving the joystick on the PS4 control, he walked over to it and examined the buttons. Button one said 'The Manor', button two said 'The Hospital' and button three said 'The Carnival'. Deciding to go in chronological order, he stared at button one, mentally pondering how to actually press it. It turns out he didn't need to, staring at it was all he needed to do because the button actually pressed itself.

"Spooky huh?" Kotarou said "Now you need to get in the elevator."

"But wait, how can you two see what I'm doing?" Kotarou pointed to the TV screen, although Seijuro didn't see him do it.

"That's because what you see is shown on the TV screen as well so other people can see what you're looking at. Obviously it won't have the same feeling as the Oculus Rift but hey, it's still fun to watch. Now, let's start the level!" The elevator shut and went down one floor, stopping with a ding to signify their arrival, and then slowly opening to reveal a very dimly lit manor.

Manoeuvring through the large manor, Seijuro wandered through the hallway, going slow mainly just to take in the scenery. Using the Oculus Rift made him feel like he was actually in the game, and so looking around was proving to be quite entertaining. Suddenly, when he turned a corner, a door opened by itself leading into a dark room. Kotarou and Eikichi instantly turned their attention towards Seijuro to see how he was reacting. He seemed completely unfazed, keeping his deadpan expression on his face. When he tried to walk into the room and the door closed on him without warning, he didn't seem affected by that either, no pun intended.

The lights shut off in the hallway and the only light was on one item in the corridor. Seijuro went and inspected it.

"Check it out!" Kotarou exclaimed "A Ouija Board!"

"Hmm. That's probably not a good sign."

"Oi, chibi, keep moving. This hallway is giving me the creeps."

"Okay, okay."

Exiting the hallway with the Ouija Board, Seijuro took a direct right into a different area of the manor. There was a flickering lamp near the back wall along with some old-fashioned furniture. As soon as Seijuro entered the room, the light bulb popped and a child's laughter echoed through the hallway and ricocheted off the walls. Kotarou and Eikichi began shivering.

"Geez, kids are never a good thing in horror video games." Eikichi stated from under the blanket he had brought to the living room. Kotarou nodded from under his own blanket, then turned to Seijuro.

"Scared yet?" he prodded. Seijuro fell silent and thought for a second.

"Not particularly," he answered "but I would be lying if I said that this game wasn't at least unnerving."

The elder brothers raised a brow. At least he admitted to being the tiniest bit scared. They wouldn't feel so accomplished for that if their goal wasn't to try and get Seijuro to lose all composure from a horror video game but that was indeed the intention of making him play the game in the first place.

As the redhead crossed over into another room, Reo, who was curious as to what those three were up to, went to the living room and sat down on the couch.

"What are you guys doing?" he asked as he eyed the TV screen. Kotarou turned around and looked at his brother sitting down.

"Ah, Reo-nee. We're watching Sei play this horror video game we got called 'Affected' on the Oculus Rift! Doesn't it look cool?"

"A horror game? What are you trying to do to my Sei-chan?!"

"Reo-nii-san, it's fine," Seijuro commented as he moved through the poorly lit hallway "It's not all too scary yet."

"Sei-chan, since when do you willingly play horror games? I thought you didn't find those kinds of games interesting."

"Yes but if I don't, I won't get the tofu soup I've been promised."

"What?"

Reo shot the other two a look before shaking his head. "Honestly you two," he said disapprovingly "bribing your younger brother like that." Kotarou went over and leaned towards him.

"But Reo-nee," he whispered "don't you want to see what it looks like when Sei loses his cool?" Reo didn't particularly like horror games either, but Seijuro losing his cool is something he almost never sees. In fact, when was the last time he's seen Seijuro afraid of something?

"I guess you could say I'm slightly curious." he said drily. "Alright, I'll stick around and watch."

Seijuro continued to play the game until he reached another room. Just as he entered, a cabinet flew from one side to the other right in front of his eyes. It was expected that he wouldn't react, but Seijuro actually jumped a bit, although a bit less than everyone else. The three brothers turned their eyes towards him in surprise. Reo chuckled.

 _What was that?_ He thought. _Did Sei-chan just get scared a little?_

"Ah, that caught me off guard..." he muttered to himself before surveying the area. A TV turned on producing loud static and white noise, and everyone saw Seijuro wince a bit at the sound as he proceeded into the next area through a door that opened by itself. The three brothers were starting to think the game was getting to him.

After crossing into two rooms with nothing happening, Seijuro went into the third room and halted in his tracks at what he was hearing. A voice. A girl's voice. Singing, to be precise.

 _It's raining, it's pouring The old man is snoring He went to bed, bumped his head, couldn't get up in the morning_

Immediately Reo got off the couch and sat next to Seijuro, just in front of Eikichi and Kotarou, who already looked like they were about to piss themselves. Seijuro, on the other hand, hesitated for a little bit before walking down the hallway and turning the corner. When the singing stopped, a music box was playing "Yankee-Doodle" unnaturally in the background.

"Wh-Who was that singing?!" Kotarou stammered. Eikichi was still shivering under the blankets.

"Probably the ghost that haunts this creepy old house." he commented.

"My, this game is scary." said Reo who was already clinging to his red-headed younger brother.

Seijuro continued down the hall and reached a bedroom. He wanted to go further into the room to investigate but then –

"OH MY GOD DO YOU SEE THAT?!"

Everyone freaked out as Kotarou pointed to the left side of the bedroom and revealed a girl, standing with her back faced towards them wearing a dirty grey shirt and black ripped skirt. Her hair was black and matted and her skin was pale sickly colour. Even the way she was standing was freaking the three out. Seijuro grabbed the stick on the controller and moved back as soon as she saw her.

"Who…is she?" he asked hesitantly.

"I don't know but don't get close!" Eikichi cried. "She's _way_ too creepy!"

"But if he doesn't, he can't advance in the game. Sei, go forward."

He was quite reluctant at first but he moved forward into the room. The other three noticed he was tensing up as well. Maybe he was scared but he was trying so hard not to externally show it. He began inching closer and closer to the girl, being very cautious about his steps when his flashlight cut. At that moment he took his hand off the joystick and began frantically looking around, most likely for the girl. But the flashlight turned back on and the girl was gone.

"Oh thank God, she disappeared." Reo said quietly. "I was _not_ ready to deal with a demon child."

Seijuro advanced to the other end of the bedroom was and spotted an open door. As soon as he walked through the door, the girl appear directly in front of him and let out an ear-piercing shriek that made the three brothers scream for their lives and Seijuro jerk violently and drop the controller in his hands. Everyone watched as he picked up the controller from the floor with a deliberate slowness as he continued through the room, making no attempt to even justify what just happened. Seijuro could practically feel his cheeks burning with embarrassment at the little display of fear he just showed. Reo, Kotarou and Eikichi exchanged looks with each other. This game actually was getting to him.

A few hallways and dead ends later, Seijuro walks into an open room, only to be jumpscared once again as the door behind him slams shut and old-timey music begins playing on a dusty gramophone residing next to a moth-eaten sofa. He took a deep breath and exhaled loudly as he walked on into the next room without saying a word. He really wasn't taking this all that well.

Crossing through the kitchen, everyone notices that Seijuro is very wary of his surroundings, turning his head towards the direction of any sounds he hears, something he didn't do in the beginning of the game. Although nothing happened in the kitchen, he pressed forward ending up in another dark passage. He turned into the passage on the left and stopped when the eerie music began to start up again.

"What's wrong, Sei-chan? Not gonna go in?"

"I am," he said after a long pause as if he was actually considering turning around "I was just...ah, never mind."

He kept moving until he reached two doors; one on the left and one directly in front. Assuming he was to go through the one in front, he made his way towards it and froze when someone began to knock on it from the other side. The living room fell silent as a demonic disembodied child's voice began to say in sing-song:

 _If you don't come play with us, then we will kill you~_

Everyone was practically hugging each other as the footsteps that accompanied the disembodied voice disappeared and the flashlight stopped flickering. Then, their attention went towards the hallway on the right and watched as Seijuro twisted and turned through this labyrinth of a manor and eventually reached a door leading into a giant room.

"Finally, a room with light." He mumbled under his breath.

"Arara, afraid of the dark, are we?"

"I just don't like it when I can't see anything. It makes me paranoid."

"If you say so~."

He entered the room and stopped at the entrance as he gazed at the furniture that was scattered about such as armchairs, a few tables and even a piano. A sombre piano song began to play in the background. It sort of made them feel slightly at ease since it was the least creepy soundtrack they've heard this entire game. As he crept into the great hall, everyone's mouths flew open in awe as every single piece of furniture began to float upwards and levitate about eight feet in the air.

"Wow," Seijuro gaped in amazement "it's so real it's like I can reach out to it and touch it." He went under the floating piano and reached out as if he were meaning to touch it, obviously knowing he couldn't since it was virtual. But he was intrigued all the same. Reo thought that watching his entertained little brother reach out to virtual furniture was actually pretty cute. For once, the redhead actually seemed to be having fun with this game.

"You know what?" Seijuro said as he approached the large staircase "I think I kind of li –"

His sentence was brutally interrupted as the lights cut off abruptly while every floating piece of furniture simultaneously dropped to the ground and the piano, crashing down to the floor, stuck an off chord, causing everyone to nearly jump out of their skin. Seijuro flung the controller down again and froze as he looked around and couldn't see much of anything.

"I retract my previous statement." he said with hints of annoyance laced into his words as he searched for a light source. The lights began to flicker upstairs as knocking was heard from a door that opened by itself. Seijuro grabbed the controller as he attempted to regain his composure and then, eventually, after mentally prepping himself, he padded up the stairs and went through the door.

The door led into a room that was lined with shelves. As soon as he entered, the door, as expected, slammed shut, leaving Seijuro with nothing but a flickering flashlight, which really wasn't helping the matter. It was quite silent for a while and Seijuro looked around in his place.

"What's supposed to happen?" he inquired as he surveyed the room from his spot. Eikichi hummed in thought.

"Hey, chibi, I think you're supposed to move." he advised. Seijuro sighed in distress and made a face.

"Fine," he stated "I'll see what's at the end of this corridor."

He didn't even get five steps in the direction he wanted to go in before he saw probably the most disturbing thing in his fourteen years of life. The girl, who's been appearing all over the manor this whole time, was crawling towards him, except she was crawling on the ceiling. Looking at the front of her more clearly, she had no eyes and there was black trails that streamed down her face from those dark voids where her eyes used to be. Everyone in the living room began freaking out and screaming.

"HOLY CRAP, HOLY CRAP! SHE'S COMING TOWARDS US! SEI, DO SOMETHING!" Seijuro was slightly panicking as well.

"I'm-I'm trying!" he stammered as he fumbled with the controller "But I can't go back, the door shut on me, remember?"

"AAAAH SEI-CHAN SHE'S GETTING CLOSER!"

"CHIBI! GET OUT OF THERE!"

Seijuro tried backing up but it really didn't stop her. As she was crawling towards him on the ceiling, her head made a 180 degree turn, which was completely unnatural. Before she even reached him, she was already up in his face, making the loudest screaming noise you've ever heard, with her ugly distorted face taking up most of the view. While everyone lost their minds, Seijuro instinctively tried pushing her away but realized that wasn't going to work and fiddled with the Oculus Rift on his head until he managed to pull it off. Everyone looked towards him as his breathing became ragged and uneven as he tried to calm himself down.

"Well," said Kotarou after a long silence "that was horrible."

"I agree." Eikichi muttered from under the blanket.

"Let's never play that game again." Reo commented.

"Sei, should I make you tofu soup as a reward?"

"Save it for tomorrow, I don't think I'm hungry anymore."

Everyone stayed huddled together in the living room for five minutes without talking. No one even made an attempt to try and get up; they were way too petrified for that.

"So…it was pretty scary," Kotarou pointed out as he clung to Eikichi "although we have to remember, it's just a game right?" Suddenly, the lights in the living room switched off, and the four tensed up.

"Guys, what happened to the lights?"

"Um…maybe the switch is faulty." Reo said dubiously.

"Yeah, the switch is probably broken or something." Eikichi said fearfully.

A noise was heard from the kitchen. It sounded like the creak of the floorboards. No one dared to move.

"Reo-nii-san, was that you?" Seijuro said as he joined the other three under the blankets. Reo shook his head vigorously.

"Of course not." He added with a nervous laugh "These floorboards must be old."

Although that thought was put to rest when the sound of creaking floorboards began to approach them. The four completely surrounded themselves in the blankets as the footsteps came closer and closer; now they're all having a real life horror experience. Everyone held their breath as the footsteps stopped directly in front of the living room entrance, and then it was quiet. After thirty seconds or so. They all began to become confused.

"Are the footsteps gone?"

"Who knows? Reo-nii-san, go check."

"I'm not going out there! Eikichi, you do it."

"Haaa?! You want me to be murdered?!"

"Just do it! You're the biggest out of all of us so you can probably take 'em! Just peek out from under the blankets for a quick second." Eikichi sighed and reached up to the blankets they were all hiding under. He let his head out from under the protective fabric to look around the pitch black room. He couldn't see anything nor could he hear anything so he assumed that nothing was there. He was just about to dive back into the covers when he turned to the right and was met face to face with a figure standing over him like a giant tower. He froze in terror as the figure said only one thing.

"Boo."

Eikichi screamed his lungs out and crashed into the other three, trying to get away. The other three, looking up and seeing the figure, immediately trying to do the same, every one of them screaming just as loud as Eikichi. Suddenly they heard the figure chuckling as it reached over to the light switch in the living room and switched it on. Standing there, laughing so hard he thought he would keel over, was Chihiro, utterly satisfied with the prank he just played.

"Chihiro?! It was you the whole time?" Kotarou groaned from under the coffee table.

"Of course it was me. I was watching your game from afar and thought it'd be funny to scare you guys. It was totally worth it."

"It was totally unfair!"

"Well that's what you get for playing a horror video game."

The four stood up from the floor and turned off the PS4.

"Well, I'm going back to my room." Kotarou said before laughing nervously and walking upstairs.

"I second that. Thanks to you, I nearly had a heart attack. I'm still shaking too." Eikichi said as he followed Kotarou upstairs.

"I think I'll go too. Sei-chan, do you want me to walk you back to your room?" 'Sei-chan', the poor boy, was traumatized enough from the video game and Chihiro's own jumpscare as he shuddered convulsively from under the blankets.

"Yes please." He answered quietly as Reo took his hand and led him upstairs. Chihiro went up with them after turning off the lights downstairs. As for the game, the other two levels of that game went untouched that night. After the first level, no one wanted to play a second time. That night, nobody slept; nobody, except for Chihiro, who fell asleep quite happy with his little prank.

* * *

 **WOW that chapter took me ages to work on beforehand. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm only putting up one more before I go to sleep tonight.**


	3. Affected aftermath

**Hello again. this chapter is kind of a continuation of the previous one. It just contains so much fluff. That's really the only purpose of this chapter. I think there is definitely OOC with Akashi here but not enough where it's like "Who tf is this" but more of, "That's a bit unlike him". But anyway, enjoy.**

* * *

Affected aftermath

It was a cold breezy night outside the Rakuzan household. The building trembled as the wind battered it from the sides, making a low rumbling noise. The leaves rustled wildly outside as they were scattered all across the ground. The huge gusts also pushed the tree branches outside, making them scratch against the windows. Thunder echoed as the lightning raced across the skies in zig-zags. Such an ominous night it was. However, a sound just barely heard over the howling wind, made itself apparent inside the house. It was the sound of feet padding lightly across the wooden floor, making its way down the hallway upstairs. The feet stopped in front of a door and careful hands quietly twisted the doorknob and pushed. The door creaked open, and the feet slowly crept towards the bed that lay in the centre of the room.

In that bed, lay a sixteen year old boy. He was tall and light-skinned with sleek black hair that nearly came down to his shoulders. His shimmering green eyes were the prettiest things about him, since they gave him a more feminine look, but, at the moment, they were closed; he was fast asleep. As the pair of feet finally reached the bed, the hands used to carefully open the door were now being used to shake the teenager awake, accompanying it with a small whisper.

"Reo-nii-san…Reo-nii-san…"

At the call of his name, the teenage boy stirred out of sleep and opened one eye. A smaller boy with ruby red hair and eyes was standing over him, one hand still on the teenager to wake him up, and the other clutching the bottom of his own shirt. Even though the red-head is known to have such a cool and collected exterior, at the moment, he seemed to be a bit melancholy. Reo blinked and lazily sat up in bed.

"Hn…?" he muttered sleepily. Shifting his eyes to the side table, he checks the time on the digital clock resting there. 2:46 a.m.

"Sei-chan, what are you doing in my room so late? Are you not feeling well?" His voice was laced with concern. Despite the fact that Reo is not the eldest brother in the family, Seijuro always went to him for a problem. But when he asked the question, he was only met with silence. Reo blinked again as he cast his look elsewhere. What could possibly be the problem?

"…Um…"

Eyes shot up to look at his brother who was trying to speak. Even though he began saying something, the red head immediately closed his mouth again. Even though he didn't say it, or show it, Reo could tell exactly what he wanted. He patted the space next to him and eyed his younger brother expectantly.

"Sei-chan, sit down with me." he said warmly. The younger boy complied and sat on the bed with him, crossing his legs as he stared down at the sheets. He didn't need to be told that his younger brother wanted to be comforted, he just knew by the look on his face.

"Tell me what the problem is, Sei-chan." Reo said softly "Was is another nightmare?" He didn't receive a verbal reply, but his younger brother's usually calm façade faltered for a fleeting second. Bingo.

 _Hmm…Sei-chan's been getting a lot of these lately_ , Reo said in his mind as he recalled the cause of them being that horror video game they had played the week before, _Every time he does get them he always comes into my room too. I wonder what it was this time._

"Want to talk about it?" Seijuro took a deep shaky breath before eventually speaking.

"It was about you." he said quietly. Reo looked down at him in mild surprise.

"Me?" he said questioningly "What happened to me?"

"Um…you know that demon girl who was in the video game we played on Friday?"

"Yeah."

"I had a dream that you were killed by her." Seijuro recounted "It was quite graphic, actually..."

Reo noticed that Seijuro dug his nails into the bed when he said that. It wasn't unusual for Seijuro to be having nightmares, but it's quite unusual for him to be having so many; was the video game really that scary for him? Reo did the only thing he could do and pulled him into a comforting hug. Seijuro would have tensed at the sudden action but he has known his brother way too long to do such a thing. Considering the fact that Reo always likes to do things like hugging and cuddling, this type of physical contact was normal to him, and Reo is one of the very few people who are actually allowed to hug him like that. Besides, he liked being spoiled by him anyway. Seijuro relaxed himself instantly into the embrace as Reo stroked his back to soothe him.

"Sounds like you didn't sleep all that well tonight then, did you?" Reo inquired. A small shake of the head was the initial response he got.

"No, I didn't." Seijuro confirmed "So when I woke up, I came to see if you…um…" Reo blinked at the sudden pause mid-sentence.

"See if I what?"

Seijuro buried his face into his brother's shirt realizing how stupid he was about to sound.

"I came to see if you were…still…alive…" He muttered. Reo's eyes widened in shock at how much of an absolute _angel_ his younger brother was being. In fact, even though they've been brothers for many, many years, Reo found it hard to believe how childishly irrational his sleep-deprived Sei-chan could be in the middle of the night like this; _especially_ since Seijuro is only two years younger than himself. He thinks it's the most precious thing ever. In the midst of this thought, Reo had not even noticed he had fallen silent and Seijuro was already staring up at him questioningly with those big eyes of his, most likely wondering why Reo did not respond.

"Um…Reo-nii-san?"

He felt his older brother tremble and Seijuro felt his mind flood with worry, thinking he might be falling ill.

"Reo-nii-san, are you alri–"

"KYAAAAAAAAA~! SEI-CHAN YOU'RE BEING SO CUTE RIGHT NOW! THAT'S THE BEST THING I'VE HEARD YOU SAY ALL DAY!"

"Reo-nii-san, you're going to wake up the other three."

Oh. Never mind. As usual it's just Reo's excited rants about how adorable he is. As flattering as it may be, hearing it on a daily basis is particularly tedious to put up with, so an attempt to withstand it at nearly 3 o'clock in the morning was out of the question.

"Oh come now let me have my fun." Reo said as he tried to contain his fanboy-like reaction "So, now are you feeling better enough to go back to your room?" Seijuro's eyes swivelled over to where he came as he fidgeted uncomfortably, an action that was very unusual, even for him.

"Ah – yes, my room…" he mumbled as he stared reluctantly at the door. Reo raised a singular eyebrow. He had an inkling of a feeling that Seijuro doesn't want to actually leave. _This kid…_

"Sei-chan…do you want to sleep here tonight?" Seijuro perked up at the question and turned to face his brother.

"Can I?"

Reo chuckled softly. "Of course. Besides, by the look on your face, it didn't seem like you were planning to go soon anyway." he said smiling at Seijuro's guilty expression.

"W-Well…it's not that I didn't want to," Seijuro stammered, attempting to create an excuse as he avoided eye contact "I just thought that it was dark and I might trip on the way back."

"Hehe, someone's being unusually tsundere."

A large yawn escaped Seijuro's mouth as he looked down and stared at the pillows on the bed, wishing his head was on them at the moment. Reo rolled his eyes in amusement and lay back down again.

"Let's get some rest, Sei-chan." he said groggily "I bet you're pretty sleepy now, right?"

"…Mm."

Seijuro got under the covers of his Reo's bed and shifted closer to his brother.

"Goodnight, Reo-nii-san."

"Goodnight, Sei-chan."

~O~

When it had been a while after they had said goodnight to each other, Reo, despite his eyes being closed, could feel his younger brother's proximity. He was trying to get to sleep but he kept drifting in and out of consciousness because Seijuro kept moving around in the bed. Eventually, Reo nudged his brother once to get his attention.

"Sei-chan~," he grumbled "you're too fidgety." Instead of an apology or a response, Seijuro mumbled something incoherent that made no type of sense to the drowsy Reo.

"Please don't take him…" he muttered almost inaudibly. Reo opened his eyes to find that Seijuro was already asleep. He eyed his brother, baffled as to what he just said.

"…Sei-chan?" he said after thirty seconds of silence. Seijuro just turned another way and muttered something else.

"Get away from us." He said quietly. Reo blinked. What on earth is he sleep-talking about?

"No…please, no…"

' _No' what?_ Reo thought. _Is he having another bad dream?_

"Reo…Reo-nii-san."

The teenager glanced over at his younger brother in surprise. He was still asleep, so why was his name being called?

"Don't die…"

Reo's eyes widened in shock. This wasn't just any bad dream, this is a repeat of the last one. That _cannot_ be good. Reo watched in dismay as his younger brother clutched the sheets and he became even more restless.

"Please come back." Seijuro whispered. "Please—" Reo felt his heart break when after that last 'please' he heard his brother's voice crack; tears were streaming down his face now. Reo couldn't take it any longer and sat up, pulling his brother into his lap and wrapping his arms protectively around him. Seijuro stirred and came back into reality still mumbling the same name he was mumbling in his dream.

"Reo-nii-san…"

"Sei-chan, I'm here. It's okay. I've got you."

Seijuro gazed up to find Reo smiling warmly, and soon after felt his lips tremble; then, uncharacteristically whimpering like an injured puppy, he hid his face in his brother's chest as he cried softly, something that he rarely ever did. _Especially_ in front of someone else. Reo didn't mind at all and simply held him closer.

"Sei-chan, what's the matter?" he asked. Seijuro merely held on to him tighter as if he would disappear if he didn't.

"It was the same dream again." he said, his voice wavering.

"You didn't like it, huh?" Reo didn't get an answer but he felt Seijuro's whole body shake before he broke down again. He sighed as he rubbed his back and stroked his hair, trying to calm him down. It took him ten whole minutes of hugging and comforting words, but Reo had finally reduced Seijuro's crying down to sniffling every now and again. Seijuro stopped sniffling for long enough to look his brother in the eyes.

"I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" Reo patted him on the head.

"Never mind that." He said soothingly. "Your needs are more important than sleep. Any time you have a nightmare again, just come to my room. You can sleep next to me, okay?"

Seijuro gave him a small nod and wiped his eyes.

"Mhmm."

They were like this for another fifteen minutes before Reo felt the grip Seijuro had on his shirt relax suddenly. Looking down, he realized that Seijuro had fallen asleep once again; this time, he was calm. Reo laid him down on the bed and lay down himself to sleep. Peering over at the digital clock, it was already 5:49 in the morning and Seijuro was already in a deep sleep, his stomach rising and falling slowly and his mouth slightly open. He shifted closer to Seijuro and wrapped his arms around him affectionately. Despite being asleep, Seijuro unconsciously nuzzled closer and returned the hug as he continued to sleep. Reo smiled and closed his eyes, adding a sigh of contentment as he continued to stroke his back. Good thing tomorrow was Saturday, so Reo could stay like that as long as he wanted.

~O~

"Ah, Eikichi! Mornin'!"

"Yeah, mornin', Kotarou."

The yellow haired boy practically ran into the kitchen as he greeted his older brother Eikichi, who was poking his head into the fridge, looking for the jug of orange juice they had bought at the grocery store the day before. The eldest brother out of the five, Chihiro, was cooking breakfast, flipping the eggs over on the frying pan he was using on the stove.

"Kotarou," Chihiro said coolly "can you go and call Seijuro and Reo down here? Tell them that breakfast will be ready soon." Kotarou gave a salute and grinned.

"Aye, aye, captain!" he stated with mock seriousness and then darted out of the kitchen.

Kotarou thumped up the stairs, turned right and flung open the door to Seijuro's bedroom.

"Yo~," he drawled out, but he soon realized no one was in the room.

"Huh? Where's Sei?" Kotarou thought aloud as he surveyed the vacant room. "I know! I'll go ask Reo-nee to see if he knows." Keeping that last thought in mind, he shuffles over to Reo's room and opens the door.

"Reo-nee, have you seen –" He cuts himself off, staring into the room. In the bed, lay Seijuro and Reo, both cuddling up to each other under the blankets, still asleep. Kotarou looks at them for a good two minutes or so, just ogling at how rare a sight this was until his thoughts were interrupted by Eikichi and Chihiro coming into the room.

"Hey, what're you doing? We've been calling you!" Eikichi complained.

"Oi, Kotarou, what's taking you so long?" Chihiro instigated "You were supposed to call them." Kotarou pointed to the bed.

"Look guys! Look at Reo-nee and Sei!" he exclaimed loudly "Aren't they cute?" Eikichi and Chihiro glance over to where he was pointing and pause when their eyes land on the two sleeping brothers. Eikichi chuckled softly and Chihiro did the same. The grey haired teenager pondered for a moment before going over to Kotarou.

"Kotarou," he whispered "go get the camera." The boy nodded and darted out of the bedroom, returning with a digital camera that he fetched from Chihiro's room. Chihiro then crept up to the foot of the bed and turned the camera on and zoomed in.

"Alright," he said quietly "this one's for the album." The camera clicked and the beeping sound went off to signify that the picture had been taken. Looking at the photo he just took and feeling satisfied, Chihiro nodded to himself and gestured the other two to the door.

"Come on you two," he said "let's let them sleep a bit longer. We'll eat breakfast when they've woken up." And so the trio exited the room and closed the door silently, allowing the two to continue their prolonged slumber in peace.

* * *

 **Okay, that's the third one so I'll call it a night. I was going to continue but I don't know if I should. To whoever reads this, do you want me to continue? Is this even entertaining enough? Please let me know, and I'll see what I can do about a fourth chapter.**


	4. The Stray

**It's nearly 3:30 in the morning and I've been doing this chapter all of Sunday from scratch so you're welcome. And to Loggrapes, you'll be happy to know that I planned to make these Akashi-centric chapters from the start. And the GoM will come in soon. Not now, but soon. And to keep you guys till my next update, this chapter is so ridiculously long. Tbh, I don't know what tf I wrote, it just came out. Also I haven't reread most of it so there might be some spelling mistakes. But either way, enjoy.**

* * *

The Stray

"You guys want to get popsicles from the convenience store?"

"Yeah, what flavour?"

"Get blue raspberry."

"No, cherry!"

" _Blue Raspberry_."

" _Cherry._ "

"Oi, keep it down you two or I'll send you home and we won't buy anything."

The five brothers were on their way home on a Wednesday afternoon and decided to make a stop at the convenience store to buy some frozen treats. Taking about five minutes to decide on the brand of popsicles and another ten to argue over the flavour they bought, they finally exited the store with strawberry flavoured popsicles, because Seijuro came out of nowhere into the argument and just pointed to a brand that he wanted to try and no one felt like arguing back.

The five arrived at their house and stopped as Chihiro got the house key out of his bag. While the front door was being unlocked, Seijuro paused to tie his shoelace behind the group when he could have sworn he heard a rustling of leaves near him. He paused, just about to pick up his laces and turned to the right, where the source of the sound had come from. It was the bush next to him. He had heard it rustle but as soon as he turned to stare at the shrubbery, suddenly the sound disappeared. Seijuro eyed the large plant for a few more seconds, watching…waiting for it to do something.

"Sei, if you don't hurry up, Chihiro will lock you out."

Seijuro looked up at Kotarou, who was currently gazing curiously at his older brother as bit into his strawberry flavoured Popsicle.

"What were you staring at just now?" Seijuro's eyes went back to the suspicious bush to his right but he shrugged it off.

"It was nothing." he replied. "Anyway, let's go." And so the two brothers strolled into the house, not knowing the small, black creature that followed them inside.

~O~

Seijuro was in the kitchen getting a cup of juice from the fridge. He took the carton out and began pouring it into his cup. As he was putting the juice back, Kotarou darted into the kitchen clutching a worksheet with probably the most happy and satisfied look on his face since last week. Seijuro put his glass down on the table and stared at his older brother as he came to a halt in front of him.

"You look excited, Kotarou-nii-san," he observed "any particular reason why?" Kotarou stopped to catch his breath and showed him the worksheets he was holding in his hand.

"Look Sei! Look!" he exclaimed "I finally understood this stupid math homework! Now I've finished it _three days_ before it's due! Awesome right? Right?" Seijuro took the pieces of paper out from his hands as Kotarou fought the urge to jump up and down in place and read the worksheet to see the topic. Circle Theorems. Seijuro remembers them being a tad difficult but nothing that was too much for him; that's why he's good at everything. And looking at the answers Kotarou put down, he was impressed to see that they were actually correct. He gave the worksheets back to Kotarou and flashed him an encouraging smile.

"Good for you, Kotarou-nii-san." He said warmly "Now you should keep that excitement for your future homework."

"Thanks! Wait—future homework? Oh crap, I forgot I have other assignments I have to do for tomorrow!" He dropped his math worksheets on the kitchen table and dashed out of the kitchen. "Can't talk now, Sei. Gotta go!" Seijuro watched him speed away and then turned to pick up his glass of juice when he heard the sound of Kotarou's bedroom door closing. Taking a small sip, he walked back to the living room, where he had kept his laptop in the midst of writing an essay. As he sat down and began typing away, he was unaware of the black creature that had entered the kitchen and spotted the sheets of math problems resting so conveniently close to the edge of the table…

~O~

Seijuro walked back to the kitchen, holding the empty glass he was drinking from and headed towards the sink to go and wash it. Right when he walked past the table, he stepped on something that made a rustling sound. Looking down and lifting his foot off the ground, he realized he stepped in shredded pieces of…paper? He tilted his head to the side as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. _I don't remember this being here._ He thought to himself. Out of curiosity, he picked up the remains of the paper off the ground and tried to pick out anything from the printed letters to find out whose it was and why they made such a mess of it on the kitchen floor. He could barely make out the writing, but what he did find intact was a picture of a circle, with a question asking to find the angles of each labelled triangle within the shape.

"This is Kotarou-nii-san's homework." He said aloud "I wonder what happened to it."

"Sei~ did I leave my math homework in here?" Seijuro looked up and saw Kotarou coming back into the kitchen. "Have you seen it?" he asked "I think I left it on the ta…" He saw the shredded remains of his worksheets in Seijuro's hands and stared at them in horror.

"Sei! What did you do that for?!" he shouted angrily as he snatched the paper away from him. Seijuro's eyes went wide at his older brother's previous statement. He was _accusing_ him.

"I haven't done anything to your papers, Kotarou-nii-san." Seijuro retorted "It was like this when I came in here."

"You were the only one here this whole time! Everyone else was in their rooms! Do you think I'm gonna believe that my homework just ripped itself up into pieces?!"

"I'm not saying that, but what I am saying is I didn't rip up your homework."

" _Liar!_ "

"Hey, who's making noise over here?" Reo complained as he strolled into the kitchen. "If you don't mind, some people are trying to have a quiet afternoon, thank you." He stopped and eyed the two, who had equally irritated looks on their faces as Kotarou held up the shredded paper and stabbed a finger at Seijuro.

"Look what he did to my math homework!" Kotarou exclaimed furiously as he waved the ruined sheets around in front of Reo. "He went and tore up my papers!" Reo raised an eyebrow sceptically.

"Ara? That's unlike Sei-chan to do something so mischievous." he said. "Perhaps, you're mistaken."

"All I did was leave it on the kitchen table!" Kotarou argued "When I came back here to get it, Sei was here and he was holding my destroyed homework. And I _just_ finished it too!" Reo glanced over at Seijuro who wasn't looking all too happy from being blamed for the incident.

"Sei-chan, is what he's saying true?" he asked. Seijuro paused for a second, trying to figure how to explain without saying the wrong thing.

"It is true that I saw him leave it on the kitchen table, and it's true that I was holding the ripped up papers when he came back in, but I wasn't the one who did it."

"Who else could have?!" Kotarou yelled "Give me the name of anyone else you think could have done it!" That was when Seijuro didn't give him an answer. Obviously Reo who just came out of his room couldn't have done it, and he couldn't imagine Eikichi or Chihiro doing something like that. Sure, as brothers, they all liked to tease each other from time to time, but there was no one amongst the five who was spiteful.

"I don't know." he admitted. He could feel Kotarou's glare boring into him. "I don't know." he repeated.

"See, Reo-nee? He can't even give an answer!" Reo cast his eyes towards Seijuro once more. He didn't look guilty, nor did he look like he was lying, but the fact remaining was that someone ripped up the papers and Reo was starting to wonder who was telling the truth. Nevertheless, he dismissed the idea with the wave of his hand and took the sheets from Kotarou.

"Well," Reo began "since I have no idea which one of you are telling me the correct story, we'll have to leave this matter unresolved. Kotarou, I'm afraid that tomorrow you'll have to go to your teacher and request a new one. Be thankful this assignment isn't due tomorrow." Kotarou groaned and trudged back to his room. "And as for Sei-chan…" he paused as he looked at the redhead. What should he say to him?

"As for Sei-chan…just continue with your own homework. Okay?" Seijuro nodded and, without another word, went back to the living room. Reo stared at the sheets before deciding to throw them away, they couldn't be used anymore. He sighed as he walked back from the kitchen to his own room. What a strange occurrence.

~O~

Reo, sitting in his room, was flipping through a fashion magazine as he relaxed on his bed. He was just about to turn the next page when he heard a lot of noise coming from Eikichi's room. It was the clanging of metal and the sound of music blaring on high volume. Reo slammed his magazine shut, cast it on the floor and grudgingly got up from bed as he stormed into Eikichi's room.

"Eikichi!" Reo shouted as he burst into the teenager's room "Stop making so much noise! If you're going to do things like lifting weights, then go do it in the living room or something!" The dark-skinned boy put his sport's drink on his nightstand and grunted.

"It's fine." He said "My music isn't _that_ loud."

"Not that loud? I bet the entire of Japan can hear your trashy music! Go downstairs!"

"No way!"

Feeling one of his veins pop, Reo grabbed Eikichi's phone and speakers and ran out his room with them. Eikichi dropped his weights and chased after him.

"OI! GIVE THAT BACK!"

"Not until you promise to take it downstairs!"

"WHY YOU…!"

As the two of them bolted down the stairs, the door leading into Reo's room, left slightly ajar, creaked open as the black mass advanced forward into the bedroom and picked up the magazine that was lying carelessly on the floor. Sauntering over into Eikichi's room, magazine in tow, it dropped it in front of the nightstand and looked up as it saw the sports drink, just a mere two and a half feet off the ground…

~O~

"Eikichi-nii-san," Seijuro called as he knocked on the door. "Eikichi-nii-san, may I have my USB back?" He knocked a bit more forcefully the second time around and the door pushed open. Seijuro opened the room and allowed his eyes to roam, searching for his older brother. His eyes fell upon the mess next to his nightstand, a sports drink had tipped over and fallen, spilling all over the fashion magazine on the floor, the liquid seeping into the pages and smearing the ink all over. Seijuro padded over and bent down to examine.

"Ah, Reo-nii-san's magazine is ruined." He observed quietly. He looked over at the empty sports drink bottle next to it and picked it up. Shaking his head as he picked up the dripping magazine from the floor, he was just about to get up when Reo and Eikichi came back into the room.

"Ah, Sei-chan, what are you doing in here?" he inquired. He looked down at the contents in his hand and gasped in shock.

"My fashion magazine!" he cried, walking quickly over to Seijuro and picking up the soaked thing. "It's ruined. How can that be?!"

"I'll tell you how." Eikichi grunted as he walked over and seized the empty bottle from Seijuro. "He dumped my sports drink onto it! And it was my last one! Now I have to go buy a new pack!" Seijuro shook his head vigorously.

"I wasn't the one who wasted your drink and I didn't ruin your magazine." he stated "I came in here and I found it like this." Eikichi grabbed his shirt and glared at him threateningly.

"You've got _some_ nerve to lie to me chibi." He growled adamantly "You think this is funny?"

"I've told you. I haven't touched your things."

"You little…"

"But I haven't." Seijuro insisted. He turned to Reo, who was looking quite peeved at the drenched magazine.

"Reo-nii-san, I—"

"It's fine." Reo said after interrupting him "I'll go buy a new one. Eikichi, let go of his shirt, I'm sure it was an accident. Just clean the place up." With that, he turned and left. Seijuro watched him exit the room in silence. Even though he didn't say much, he knew Reo was a bit angry. Eikichi released his grip and walked out of his bedroom to go get some paper towels downstairs in the kitchen.

"Just do everyone a favour and go do your homework or something!" he spat. Then he stomped away, leaving Seijuro frozen in place in the centre of the room. Looking at the puddle on the floor, he frowned and left the room quietly to go finish the essay he had left on his laptop.

~O~

Meanwhile, Chihiro was completely oblivious to all that has happened was finishing a light novel in his room at his study table. Regardless of the fact that they were making so much noise, he was too absorbed in the pages that he paid no attention to all the shouting and running. He was just about to get to the good bit when…

"Chihiro! Have you seen the spatula?" He looked up from his thin novel and sighed in annoyance. What a horrible time to interrupt him.

"Just hold on a second," he said "I'm coming down now to start dinner." Getting up from the table, he left the novel on his chair and walked out, footsteps fading as he headed downstairs. As his footsteps faded, another's came closer and closer until they reached Chihiro's room. As the door opened, the black mass of a creature slinked into the bedroom and surveyed the area. It was quite organized, everything was put in its proper place; except for one thing…

~O~

Dinner was unusually quiet that day. As they all sat down at the dining table at nearly seven o'clock, there were no sounds in the room except for the chewing of food, the clacking of chopsticks and the clinking of the glasses of water every time someone put theirs down onto the table. Chihiro eyed the others suspiciously. It was way too tense tonight, even for those four.

"Why is no one speaking today?" he finally asked after five minutes. "No one seems to be in a good mood, yet you were all fine this afternoon. Did something happen?" Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their attention towards the eldest.

"Nothing happened," Kotarou huffed. "I just don't feel like talking to anyone."

"Me neither." Eikichi added as he shoved a spoonful of rice into his mouth.

"I'm just tired, that's all." Reo said as he cast his eyes elsewhere.

Chihiro turned to Seijuro, expecting him to say something, but instead, he took a thoughtful sip of water and continued to eat. Chihiro quirked an eyebrow. He must have missed something.

Two minutes later, Seijuro rises from the table, excusing himself to go to the bathroom. As he walked in and opened the door to the bathroom, he switched on the lights and looked down at the toilet. He couldn't believe it. There, floating in the water of the toilet bowl, was Chihiro's light novel. Seijuro backed out of the bathroom and stared at the small book in disbelief. How? How could another incident happen again?

"Seijuro, if you're done with the bathroom then let me use it."

Seijuro turned around to find Chihiro standing behind him. He hesitated.

"Well, what are you standing there for? Move out of the way if you're finished."

"Um, actually, about that, Chihiro-nii-san…"

"Hmm…?"

He put a hand on Seijuro's shoulders and moved him aside, peering into the bathroom, and wondering why his younger brother was acting so strange. Then, gazing down into the toilet, he gaped at the horrendous scene in front of him. His light novel, completely drenched in toilet water.

"My novel!" he exclaimed as he fished it out of the toilet "It's completely soaked! Even the pages are starting to rip!" The other three, curious as to what the commotion was all about, came over to the bathroom as well.

"What's going on here?" Reo asked.

"Yeah," said Kotarou "you sounds distressed." Chihiro held up the book with a look of disgust.

"Someone thought it would be funny to put this in the toilet." He grumbled "And I just got to the last chapter. Thanks to whoever did this, I have to go out and get a new one."

"Eww!" Reo cried as he looked at the dripping novel with distaste "Don't bring it closer, it's soaked in toilet water!"

"Which one of you…which one of you did this?" All eyes fell towards Seijuro as the answer to his question.

"Well, three guesses who." Kotarou said sarcastically. Seijuro shot him a look and scowled. Not again.

"Seijuro, did you do this?" The red head in question sighed.

"I keep telling you, it wasn't me." He said. "I came in and it was like that."

"That's the third time today you've said that, Sei-chan. Are you sure you're telling the truth?"

"Of course I am!" he said "I've only said the same thing three times because that's exactly what happened three times." Chihiro made a noise of confusion.

"Three times?" he echoed. "You mean the same thing happened two times before?"

"Yeah," said Eikichi. "The scenario always plays out with someone making a mess while we're not looking, we come back to see chibi over there standing in front of the mess, saying that he didn't do it and it was like that when he came in. It's honestly starting to piss me off, the way he denies things." Chihiro hummed in thought.

"Well, despite the fact that all the evidence points to him, Seijuro is not one to act out like that."

"Nee, nee. Maybe it's one of those phases."

"You mean Sei-chan's turned rebellious? Impossible!"

Seijuro didn't say anything through this entire exchange. So now everyone in the house has blamed him for something. Now even Chihiro's mad. This must be strike three.

"Seijuro…" the boy froze at the sound of his name. The way Chihiro said it sounded colder than usual. He looked up at the grey-haired teenager. Seijuro could barely make it out, but he could see small traces of agitation in his eyes. He inhaled and finally decided to speak.

"…Yes, Chihiro-nii-san?"

"Just go sit in your room please."

Seijuro stood there for a few seconds, trying to process what he just said. _So he doesn't believe me after all_ , he thought to himself. _I suppose I'll just go._ And so, with his head hanging low, he sullenly made his way up the stairs, went into his room and shut the door behind him.

~O~

For the next half hour, Seijuro sat in his bedroom, playing a game of shogi by himself. Although he must admit, he really wasn't feeling it today. After being blamed so many times for things he didn't do, he just gave up on trying to persuade the others and obediently went to his room like Chihiro asked. Now, sulking miserably as he moved his bishop piece, he continued to play the game, wondering what could have caused all these accidents and why he was in the wrong place at the wrong time on so many occasions today.

 _Ah, I forgot my laptop in the living room_ , he suddenly remembered, _I should go and get it._

Opening his door as quietly as possible, Seijuro poked his head out of his room to check if the coast was clear. No one on his left, no one on his right. It was safe. He tiptoed down the stairs, avoiding the parts that creak, and snuck over to the living room. Then with laptop in hand, he stood himself up and was about to head back to his room. That was when a loud bang was heard from upstairs and the noise of about a thousand smaller things falling to the floor came soon after. Seijuro ran up the stairs and flung open the door to his room to be completely taken aback to the sight before him. His shogi board was on the floor and all the pieces had fallen off and had scattered. And, sitting in the centre of his bed, with absolutely no remorse for what it just did, was none other than a black cat.

Seijuro blinked in confusion as he eyed the feline. He slowly walked over to his bed and stared at the creature.

"Where did you come from?" he said as the cat licked its paws. The cat paid him no mind and continued minding its own business. _A cat?_ Seijuro thought in bewilderment. He looked at its underside for a discreet check to see what gender it was. _A female cat._ Seijuro reached out a hand to the animal and the cat sniffed it first, and then, deciding it was okay, decided to lick the back of his hand. Seijuro laughed softly at the gesture and smiled.

"You're quite cute, aren't you?"

Kotarou entered Seijuro's room a couple minutes later after hearing a bit of shuffling around going on.

"Sei~" he called "what was that noise just now?" He stopped in his tracks to see Seijuro with shogi pieces all over the floor. Not only that, but he was playing with a black cat, teasing it by rolling around a ball that was in his room, and the cat fervently chasing after it.

"…Wha…?"

"Wh-What's a cat doing in here?!" Eikichi shouted as he and the other two brothers stood by the doorway.

"My, my, who let a cat into the house?"

"Seijuro, why is there a cat in here?"

Seijuro shrugged.

"I'm not sure." He said. "I went to get my laptop and I came back to see this cat sitting on my bed."

"Well it had to have gotten in here somehow."

"Hmm, I think I have an idea." Seijuro said. "This afternoon, before we went in the house, I stopped to tie my shoelaces outside and I heard noises coming from the bush nearby. Maybe that was the cat making the noise. It probably slipped in without us noticing."

"Ahhh, so that's what you were staring at outside." Kotarou said, coming into realization.

Chihiro went over to the cat and petted it lightly on the head. The cat purred in bliss. Looking at its neck, there was no collar nor did it have any type of accessory to indicate it had an owner.

"So it's a stray…" he said. He took his hand off the cat after a few seconds, for some strange reason, the cat was feeling weird to him.

"Why is its fur sticky?" Seijuro went closer to the animal as well.

"Upon further inspection, I see there are bits of paper on it. It also vaguely smells like lemons." He observed. "Wasn't that the flavour of Eikichi-nii-san's sports drink?"

"It was." Eikichi said.

"And the ripped up paper could be from Kotarou's homework and my magazine. So that means the real culprit was…"

"Exactly." Chihiro said affirmatively "The real culprit was the cat." Everyone looked towards the feline. The cat looked around, noticed the stares and meowed, not giving a care for its actions.

"I can't believe it was a cat all along." Eikichi said bitterly. Kotarou nodded in agreement.

"Me too." He said "But wait, if the cat was the real culprit, then does that mean…" Everyone turned their heads towards Seijuro who was giving them the 'I told you so' look. They all realized at once, they made a mistake.

"Sei-chan! I'm sorry for ever doubting you!" Reo cried as he grabbed the redhead and hugged him as tight as he could.

"Reo-nii-san please loosen your grip. You're choking me." Kotarou joined them as well.

"Sei, I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to get mad at you."

"Me too, chibi." Eikichi admitted reluctantly. Chihiro went over and patted Seijuro on the head.

"I suppose I'm sorry as well." he said after a short pause. Now that everyone has reconciled with one another, there left one matter unresolved. Everyone stared at the cat, still licking its paws on Seijuro's bed.

"So," Kotarou began "what are we going to do with it?"

"Well we should take it back outside." Chihiro said. "Let's let it out. Seijuro, you're probably going to have to carry it to the front door." Seijuro hesitated as he watched the cat go after the ball once more, trying to pounce on it every time it got close. It really was a cute little thing.

"Seijuro, did you hear what I said?" Seijuro shook his head to get himself out of his thoughts.

"Yes, I did." he said "Sorry, I just zoned out a little." He went over to the furry animal and gently picked it up. Then, turning to the door, he exited his room, with the other four following him to the entrance to their house. Reo opened the door and Seijuro finally set the cat back onto the ground. No one had noticed, but it was drizzling outside. The cat sat in front of the door, confused. Everyone eyed it, waiting for it to stalk away in the other direction.

"Chihiro-nii-san, it's not leaving."

"It doesn't matter just close the door." Seijuro nodded and reach out to the doorknob. Right when his hand grabbed it, the cat began meowing in protest. Seijuro locked eyes with the poor thing and felt himself melt into its deep blue eyes. Chihiro waved a hand in front of his face.

"Earth to Seijuro. Close the door." Seijuro started and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Uh, right. Close the door." He repeated. He took hold of the doorknob once more and slowly shut the door. When he finally shut it and twisted the lock, he could still hear the cat's meows from outside.

"It's still not leaving."

"Doesn't matter, it'll leave eventually."

The brothers then began walking over to the living room to watch some news. Seijuro tagged along, only pausing once to look at the door one more time before trailing behind them.

~O~

It had been a while since they had let the little troublemaking cat out and it was absolutely pouring down with rain. It's been like that for hours. Only a few minutes after it started drizzling did it begin to increase more and more until it was hammering down from the sky. And it only seemed to be getting worse. At first, Seijuro could hear the poor cat's meowing for up to half an hour after he shut the door, but now, he couldn't hear anything at all. He sat there in the living room with his brothers as a weather forecast was broadcasting on the TV.

"The weather forecast for the rest of this night is heavy rain," the weatherman announced "and, according to meteorologists, this unexpected heavy rain will be continuing for another three to four days. There will be flood watches starting tonight. We will keep you updated on any new knowledge about the weather."

"Ah~ what unfortunate news." Reo said as he watched the forecast.

"Yeah," Chihiro replied "I feel sorry for anyone who's caught up in this mess tonight."

Seijuro took a thoughtful sip of hot chocolate from the mug in his hand as he stared out the window. He was starting to feel extremely guilty for letting the cat out in such poor weather. It would be soaked head to toe in rain. It might even get sick. Or worse…

 _And I just shut the door in her face._ He thought. _There were even flood warnings. Something might happen to her._ He put down his mug and stood up while everyone was preoccupied with the news. _Okay,_ he said internally, _I'll go look for her._

He snuck away from the living room and went towards the front door. Unlocking the door quietly, he twisted the doorknob and stepped outside. The intensity of the rain was extreme, way too extreme for anyone, including an animal to be out here. He took a deep breath and shut the door behind him. Time to start hunting.

~O~

"Anyone want to watch something else? The news is getting repetitive now."

The remaining four brothers were sat in the living room still after hearing the same weather forecast about three times now. Chihiro grabbed the remote.

"Yeah," he said "let's watch 'Behind Mansion Walls'."

"No way! That's boring too! Put on 'Top 20 Most Shocking'!"

"As if! 'Man vs. Food'!"

"Eikichi you think about food too much." Reo sighed. "Sei-chan, what do you want to watch?" Everyone turned around to the back sofa only to find his mug sitting on the coffee table and the redhead nowhere in sight.

"Ara? Where's Sei-chan?"

~O~

Seijuro shivered as the wind blew against the skin of his bare arms. Instantly regretting leaving the house with just a t-shirt and sweatpants, he mentally facepalmed himself for being so careless when stepped outside, but it was too late to go back in.

Where could this cat possibly be? It couldn't have gotten that far. Not in this rain. Seijuro looked around in the downpour and tried to locate it.

"Here kitty~." he called out in the pitch black "Come out, come out wherever you are." He heard a meowing in the distance and swivelled his head around to a fence on the opposite street. Splashing in the giant puddles, Seijuro ran across and got onto the curb on the other side.

"Here kitty~, here kitty~"

He kept following the meowing until he stopped when the fence area ended, spotting exactly what he was looking for. There was the mischievous little cat, with her paw stuck in the metal wiring letting out little mewls as a cry for help.

"Ah, you can't get out, can you? Stay put, I'll help you."

He bent down and took hold of the cat's paw with one hand while using the other to separate the metal wiring. He tried to be as careful as possible in trying to remove her paw, so the wiring wouldn't hurt her. After a couple minutes went by, he had finally pulled enough away to take her paw out.

"There, isn't that better?" he said as he picked the cat up in his arms. "You really are a troublemaker." He crossed the street and went up the pathway to the house. Just as he was about to reach the doorknob, the door flew open, revealing the four concerned faces on the other side all staring at Seijuro in shock.

"There you are, we've been looking all over for you!" said Kotarou.

"Oi chibi, what do you think you're doing outside? It pouring!" Seijuro looked down at the cat he was carrying.

"I realized that I shouldn't have let her out into the rain like this," he said "so I found her and brought her back here."

The cat jumped down from his arms and shook herself off. Then she sat down, as if she were waiting for their conversation to finish and eyed the boys expectantly. Chihiro shook his head.

"Aaaah! Sei-chan just look at you!" Reo cried in dismay as he examined at his younger brother "You're absolutely soaking wet! Did you go out dressed like that?! You're not even wearing shoes!"

"Kotarou, go get him a towel. If he doesn't dry off quickly, he'll catch a cold."

As Kotarou darted off to go find a towel from the bathroom, Chihiro stared at the cat sitting down next to Seijuro's feet.

"So you brought the cat in here again?" he asked. "Why didn't you leave it out on the street?" Seijuro pondered the question for a moment.

"Well, she's caused me a lot of trouble today," he said thoughtfully "but I think she's nice."

"Is that so?"

Chihiro watched as the cat began to weave itself around Seijuro's legs, causing him to chuckle softly, bending down to pet it some more.

"Besides," Seijuro added "she's a stray and she has nowhere to go. I didn't want to leave her on the street. She needs someone to take care of her." He continued to pet the animal with a small smile. Chihiro noticed Seijuro was giving the cat a lot more affection than he expected. In fact, Seijuro was giving that cat more affection than he's given to most human beings. He did look truly happy and there was nothing that could convince the eighteen year old otherwise. He had taken a liking to it.

"…Well…" Seijuro's attention turned towards his brother. "You better take care of her then." The redhead's eyes went wide in disbelief.

"Chihiro-nii-san…are you saying I can keep her?"

"If you can take care of her, then sure." Seijuro allowed a grin to spread across his face.

"Thank you very much, Chihiro-nii-san. I promise to be a very good pet owner."

Kotarou came back with towels, leaving Reo to fuss over Seijuro like the protective mother he is, telling him to go have a hot bath and then go straight to bed as he took the towels from Kotarou and dried his hair. Everyone then became informed about the new addition to the family.

"Eh? We're keeping her?" Kotarou said in mild surprise.

"Whatever, as long as she doesn't spill my sports drinks all over my floor again." Eikichi grumbled.

"Nee, nee. Sei-chan what are you going to name her?"

Seijuro looked down at the cat and thought. After a few seconds of contemplation, he nodded to himself as a type of self-confirmation and announced his answer.

"Doesn't 'Nuisance' suit her well?" Everyone looked at each other and nodded. Believe me, that's all she was today.

"Yep, that's a spitting image of the word."

"I'll say." Chihiro shrugged.

"Okay. Nuisance it is. Now go take a bath, Seijuro, before you get sick."

"Okay, I'm going. Come, Nuisance." She immediately began to follow Seijuro upstairs. She adapted to her name very quickly. The other four were left behind watching them go upstairs. This was going to be an interesting new family member.

* * *

 **DONE! Okay I feel accomplished tonight so I'm going to bed. Read and review please!**


	5. Feverish consequences

**WOW IT'S 4 IN THE MORNING ONCE MORE ON A SUNDAY NIGHT JUST GREAT. Anyway, here's another chapter, it's kinda long. Thank you to whoever reads this fanfic. I really appreciate it and I honestly thought I wouldn't get any attention from it. Also the reviews have made my day so thank you to every single one of them.**

 **And to answer your question, Malica15, thanks for the the idea. I'm not sure how I'll be able to use it since the trigger for his other self to emerge is no longer existent since this is an AU where the GoM were on separate teams from the beginning, but if I come across a time I can use it, I'll definitely do so! And thank you very much for the review!**

 **Now, on to the next chapter!**

* * *

Feverish consequences

It was Thursday, the day after all the crazy antics from last night. The morning birds were quiet today, most likely taking shelter, because it was absolutely pouring outside with rain. Like the weatherman reported yesterday, there was heavy showers, continuous heavy showers at that, which would probably last for the next two to three days. Flood watches were definitely going to be up today. Inside the Rakuzan household, an alarm clock went off in one of the rooms upstairs at 7:30. As the beeping initiated, a pale, lazy hand slowly reached over and attempted to press the snooze button, repeatedly missing the actual button, the hand slamming on the nightstand instead. After the fifth attempt, the button was finally pressed and noise ceased. The occupant of the bed rolled over and grudgingly sat up in bed, accompanying the action with a low moan. This person was none other than Seijuro.

Something was off today. As soon as he sat up in bed, he immediately felt dizzy. He felt himself sway a bit before making an effort to put a hand on his head to steady himself. That didn't prove to be successful either. Realizing he did not have the energy to lift it all the way up, he put his hand down halfway before it reached his head. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion (which was the only thing he had energy for) as he looked down at himself. Why was he so fatigued when all he did was sit up? His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden sneeze that came out of nowhere, surprising even himself. He blinked once, twice, and then sniffed, as he lay on the backboard of his bed, wondering what to do.

 _Ah…what is this?_ He thought miserably. _Everything aches and to make matters worse, my body feels so heavy. I'm already breathing heavily just from lifting my arms. Also, is it way too hot in here or is that just my imagination? And did I just sneeze? This feels terrible._

"I should probably go downstairs." he muttered aloud. He stumbled out of bed and tried so hard to move but he could only get a few steps away from his bed before he sat down on the floor in a heap, breath ragged and uneven.

 _I feel so weak just after walking for only two seconds. I can barely move, and I haven't even gotten out of my room._ He leant back on the bedframe groaned in pain.

 _This is going to take a while…_

~O~

Meanwhile, the other four brothers were sitting at the table downstairs while Nuisance was sitting nearby, lapping a bowl of milk. They had begun eating already, but everyone was well aware of the missing person from the group.

"Shouldn't Sei be down here by now?" Kotarou asked as he bit into a slice of bread. "He's going to be late."

"Maybe he overslept." Eikichi suggested through a mouthful of food.

"That's unlike him." Reo said. Chihiro pushed out his chair, ready to stand up.

"I'll go check on him."

"Hold on a second." A voice said in reply. Swivelling their heads towards the sound of the voice, everyone observed Seijuro as he practically staggered into the kitchen, his pace much slower than usual. By the time he reached the table, he was physically panting. Nuisance padded over to him and rubbed her head against his leg, excitedly meowing every few seconds. Believing he did not have the strength to bend down and pet her, he just smiled feebly and enjoyed her act of affection.

"Seijuro, what happened to you?" Chihiro instigated "Wait, you're in your pyjamas still. Have you forgotten you have school—" he stopped mid-sentence and stood up to get a closer look at his younger brother. Aside from the heavy breathing, his hair was messed up and his nose was red with irritation; not only that, but he looked quite flushed as well, holding himself up by using the table as support. Chihiro narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Something was not right with him.

"Stay there for a second." He said, and went over to the kitchen drawers. Opening one of them, he pulled out a digital thermometer, switched it on and walked back to Seijuro, putting it in front of his face.

"Put this under your tongue and hold it there for a bit." he said. Seijuro willingly took the thermometer from him and put it in his mouth, letting it sit there for almost a minute, until the device began beeping to signify it was done. Chihiro took it out of his mouth and read the temperature on the miniature screen.

"Just as I thought," Chihiro stated "you have a fever." He showed Seijuro the temperature on the screen as well. 39.6 degrees Celsius. The redhead frowned.

"I see," he said after a pause "I thought it might have been that." He sneezed again, causing everyone at the table to jump. Chihiro shook his head in exasperation.

" _And_ you're sneezing? It must be the flu. Geez, next time, think twice about what you're wearing before you wander around in the pouring rain."

"Sorry."

"You're just about as troublemaking as that cat you know."

"Sorry."

A large sigh escaped from Chihiro's lips as he went to go rinse off the thermometer in the sink.

"Well, it can't be helped." he said "You're going to have to stay home today. Go to the living room, I'll be there in a minute."

"Sei-chan, do you need help getting there?" asked Reo. Seijuro looked down at his legs, which were nowhere near the physical state he needed them to be in to be able to carry out the one function that they were supposed to do. He pursed his lips together and looked towards his brother.

"Yes, thank you."

So while Seijuro was led to the living room by Reo as he held onto his arm for support, Chihiro went into one of the kitchen cabinets and began searching for the medicine.

Reo brought Seijuro to the living room stood next to the couch.

"Okay here we are~" Reo said as they entered the room. "Now, just try and lie down okay?"

Seijuro nodded and made the effort to get onto on the couch. It had taken him a while; the fever he had made him feel so weak and heavy he could barely stand for five seconds without needing to sit down and rest or use something for support. As soon as Seijuro climbed onto the piece of furniture, he felt himself collapse prematurely and end up face planting directly onto the cushions. He made a noise of discontent as Reo began chuckling to himself.

"Sei-chan you really can't move at all, can you?" he laughed. "Here, let me help you."

He managed to coax Seijuro to try and sit up (emphasis on 'try'). He could barely move after contributing so much of that energy to getting downstairs that he just lay face down on the couch while slowly losing the will to live. So, after a considerate amount of shifting around, lo and behold, Seijuro was comfortably situated on the sofa and Reo watched over him as they waited for Chihiro. Nuisance found her way into the living room as well, and sauntered over to the edge of the couch, staring up at the boy in curiosity. Seijuro gathered up all the strength he could muster to reach over and pat the space next to him, the cat understanding the signal and leaping onto the cushion next to him. Reo smiled as he petted the feline.

"Well," he said "I suppose you won't be lonely staying at home now that you've got her." Seijuro nodded and allowed the black cat to cuddle up next to him as he relaxed on the couch. Soon enough, there were footsteps heard, and soon enough, the owner of the footsteps made himself apparent. It was Chihiro, and he was holding a bottle of pills and tissues in one hand and some pieces of toast and a mug of orange juice in the other.

"Seijuro, I've brought you medicine to relieve you of your symptoms. It's only temporary, so you'll have to take it every four hours." He took the bottle and tipped it over as he shook out two capsules from the container and handed them to Seijuro. The redhead thanked his older brother and slowly reached over and took the pills, swallowing them with some difficulty. He went over to reach for the juice, but his hands kept trembling in the pathetic attempt to grab the mug, and so Reo had to hold the ceramic mug up to his lips while he drank.

"Sei-chan, will you be alright on your own for the day?" Seijuro shrugged his shoulders.

"Well…to be honest, I'm not sure myself." He said "But I'm sure I'll be able to manage, Reo-nii-san." Chihiro raised an eyebrow.

"Are you entirely sure?"

"Yes. I'll be fine."

"…If you say so." he concluded. He put the toast, the orange juice and the medicine on the coffee table. "Okay," he said "it's about time for us to leave, are you absolutely sure you're gonna be okay?" Seijuro nodded before then sneezing once more, prompting Chihiro to hand him the tissues.

"I'll be okay." he reassured them. The grey-haired teenager went over to Seijuro and ruffled his messy red hair.

"Then we'll be going. Be good and drink plenty of fluids. And if you get tired, go straight to your room and sleep." Reo went over and patted his head as well.

"Bye Sei-chan~ feel better soon! Call us if you need anything!"

"Okay."

After everyone said their goodbyes and offered their condolences to the sick teenager, they all left through the front door. Seijuro watched the door close and turned his attention away from it when he heard the tumblers on the lock click and the sound of footsteps fade out of his range of hearing. He stared down at Nuisance and went back to stroking her fur.

"Well, I suppose it's just the two of us now."

~O~

As everyone began the walk to school, Chihiro's phone began to ring. Putting his umbrella in his other hand, he dug around in his pocket and checked the Caller ID before pressing the green button to answer the call.

"Ah, it's you." he said "How goes it?"

" _Me? Oh I'm alright._ " the caller responded " _Nothing much happenin' as usual._ "

"I see. So how come you're calling so early? Did something happen?"

" _Well you already know that I was coming over to spend the weekend with you guys but I'm in the area right now just hangin' around since my lectures were cancelled today so I was calling to see if I could come over later on today instead of tomorrow like we planned._ " Chihiro perked up slightly.

"Wait, you're in the area right now?"

" _Yeah, that's right._ " The grey-haired teen hummed in thought.

"Actually, regarding that…do you think I could ask you a favour?"

"… _Huh?_ "

~O~

Seijuro lay on the couch, pondering how to spend the rest of his day. He wasn't tired yet, so sleeping was out of the question. And he wasn't hungry either because he just finished eating the toast that Chihiro brought him. He could get his shogi board from his room, but that required getting up the stairs, which is something he had absolutely no energy to do at the moment. He could watch TV, but the shows he liked watching don't air at this time of day. He sighed as he lay on his side and played around with Nuisance. What was he to do?

Suddenly, he heard the doorbell ring. Looking up from the couch, he gazed at the door and stood up.

"I'm coming, hold on a second!" he called feebly. He wobbled over to the door, fiddling with it for some time before he could twist the lock and, eventually, twisted the handle to open the door. The person standing at the door was a tall, light-skinned, teenage boy most definitely around 190 centimetres in height with short black hair and grey eyes. He towered over Seijuro quite significantly with his overwhelming height and a lot of other people as well. It would have been quite intimidating to Seijuro as well, had he not have known who this person was. But he did, and his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped as he finally recognized this man at the door.

"Shuuzo-san?" he exclaimed, baffled at the sight of his older cousin "What are you doing here? I thought you were coming over tomorrow."

"Haaa?" Shuuzo gave him a playful flick to the forehead "That's how I'm greeted when I walk through the door? Not even a 'Hello' or a 'Nice to see you'?" Seijuro rubbed his forehead and gave him a sheepish grin.

"Sorry. I'm happy that you've come to visit, Shuuzo-san." His legs began shaking as he finished speaking since he didn't have the energy to keep standing, so he grabbed Shuuzo's arm for balance earning himself a confused look.

"I'm sorry, I can't walk much without getting tired so…" Shuuzo raised an eyebrow but didn't divulge any further into the topic.

"Whatever." He said. They began walking towards the living room to sit down. "So, it's unusual for you to get sick like this, Seijuro. What happened?"

As soon as they got in, Nuisance slinked over to them and began weaving around Shuuzo's legs. The teenager had to do a double take to make sure it wasn't his imagination that a cat was in the house.

"Seijuro," he began "you…you got a pet?" Seijuro smiled fondly at the cat before going to sit down on the couch.

"Yes. She wandered into her house yesterday and Chihiro-nii-san said we could keep her. Her name is Nuisance. Isn't she cute?"

He looked down at the feline and, as if on cue, she rolled onto her back and meowed adorably. Shuuzo bent down and pet the cat, much to her liking and then went to go sit down himself, next to Seijuro.

"Actually," the redhead continued "She's the reason why I'm sick." Shuuzo looked up at him.

"What, you're allergic to cats?"

"No, but I went out in the rain and brought her in the house so _she_ wouldn't get sick."

"She may not be sick, but now you are. I didn't think you'd do something so recklessly kind-hearted."

"Haha, Shuuzo-san's being mean. By the way, why did you come a day earlier?" Shuuzo put his bag down and leaned on the armrest.

"I was planning to stop by your house a day earlier anyway, since my lectures for today were cancelled. But when I called Chihiro to tell him I'd be coming later on, he asked me to head over here now so I could watch over you."

"I see." Shuuzo flicked him on the forehead again.

"Can't you sound a little bit happier?!" Seijuro groaned in pain and went back to rubbing his forehead.

"I apologize again," he said "but it's hard for me to feel anything except weak and heavy right now."

"Hmm…" The older cousin leaned down towards the redhead and pressed his hand on his forehead.

"You're absolutely boiling y'know?" Shuuzo bluntly pointed out. "Geez, your flu's the real deal alright. Is there anything specifically I need to know about what meds you should take or something?" Seijuro sneezed abruptly which caused Nuisance to jump off the couch in surprise.

"I wasn't really told much." he said as he reached for the tissues. "Just to drink fluids and go sleep in my room if I feel tired."

A pregnant silence fell upon them as Shuuzo sat there while Seijuro made a second attempt to hold the mug of orange juice without dropping it. After about a minute or so, he finally sighed and stood up.

"Isn't there _anything_ you want to do today?" he asked. Seijuro looked thoughtfully into space.

"I don't know." he said "I haven't thought about it yet."

"Well, now that you're out of school today, you should enjoy your freedom and do something fun. C'mon, there must be something you want to do." Shuuzo went into the drawers under the TV set and found a checker board. "Why not this?" Seijuro stared at the thing and shrugged.

"Okay." He slid off the couch and moved over to the coffee table. "I'll probably win though."

"You little…"

~O~

The two finally set up the checker board and began playing. Shuuzo was the black pieces while Seijuro was the red. Each took turns strategically moving one piece at a time. Waiting for his turn to move, Shuuzo glanced over at his younger cousin, who was carefully contemplating which piece he should move. He had his arms folded on the table and his head nestled on top of them, looking over at the red pieces on the checkered board. He had that flushed expression on his face that signified his sickness. And his eyes… His eyes drooped slightly from strain and fatigue, yet they were so assessing and analytical. It looked strange.

"Um…Shuuzo-san?"

Shuuzo blinked and realized Seijuro was staring directly at him with questioning eyes. He didn't even realize how long he was staring for.

"Yeah?"

"It's your turn to move." he stated "Is something wrong?"

"Ah, it's nothing really." Shuuzo said as he relocated one of his pieces to a free square "It's just weird seeing you sick."

"Ah, is that so?"

Another clack of the checker piece, another silence.

"So, Seijuro…are you hungry or something?"

"No, not really. I think my appetite's off today."

"Oh. Well you still need to eat something before you take your medicine, okay?"

"Okay."

Shuuzo paused. _Should I say something else,_ he wondered, o _r do I just keep quiet?_ Again, his eyes were cast towards the younger boy as he moved another piece. He didn't seem uncomfortable or anything, but still, Shuuzo had the feeling that he was being too boring. He was about to open his mouth to say something, but Seijuro beat him to it.

"This is nice." he said leisurely. Shuuzo blinked.

"What is?"

"I don't know. The atmosphere. I like it." The older cousin hummed as he moved one of his pieces.

"I guess you're right." he said. "What with all the rain, it makes people wanna stay inside and do quiet things."

"Mhmm. It's quite soothing, in a way."

"Yeah. This game of checkers is pretty calming too. I almost don't want it to end."

"Actually…about that…" Shuuzo looked down at Seijuro as he single-handedly took one checker piece, jumped over every single black checker piece in Shuuzo's possession and reach the other side of the board, only to flip that piece over and flash him a triumphant grin.

"King me, I win."

"YOU LITTLE BASTARD!"

~O~

After the two started playing checkers, Shuuzo tried a different game. Cards were really no different. Of course Seijuro was good at 'Go fish' and 'Snap' and 'Blackjack'. How he was able to beat Shuuzo in every game was beyond human comprehension. So they switched out of games involving luck and went and started playing Mario Kart, a game that involved some type of skill. Shuuzo huffed angrily.

"You're a little cheater, you know that?"

"I haven't done anything wrong, Shuuzo-san. Perhaps you're having bad luck today."

"You may have bested me in every other game, but don't get too cocky. I'll win you in Mario Kart."

"If you say so."

And so the showdown begun. Shuuzo chose the hardest tracks in the game; all four races were done in 'Special Cup'.

Were they hard? Hell yeah.

Did he win any of them? Hell no.

After being brutally demolished in 'Dry, Dry Ruins', he tried to get back at Seijuro in 'Moonview Highway'. Although all the other cars on the lane made it impossibly tedious, and for some reason he kept running into bomb cars. 'Bowser's Castle wasn't a good one either. It was bad enough trying to catch up to Seijuro, but the falling Thwomps in the way and the giant mechanical Bowser spitting red-hot fire on a racing track surrounded by lava made things much worse (Also friggin Yoshi kept sending him red shells). 'Rainbow Road was the last one. He was in second place, right behind Seijuro coming up steadily, the finish line in sight, but then, Seijuro suddenly pressed the one on the Wii remote and reversed his bike. Shuuzo laughed triumphantly as he passed the redhead.

"Haha! Big mistake Seijuro! Now I'm gonna win this one!"

Just after he said that, his Wii remote began emitting a warning sound. Shuuzo looked at the top screen where he was racing and gaped in horror. A picture of a blue shell along with a danger sign appeared as the whooshing sound from the diabolical item began getting closer and closer as it sped over to his kart.

"Oh my God no-no-no please!"

It was too late, the blue shell began to circle his kart and then dived straight down and exploded, flipping the kart at least three metres in the air, the poor vehicle doing a complete aerial somersault. As soon as he recovered, he was about to move, that is until Seijuro swerved his bike and bashed Shuuzo from the side, accelerating ahead and crossing the finish line first, him second. Shuuzo took a few seconds to register what happened as the scoreboard displayed Seijuro in the lead with all sixty points and himself coming behind him with forty-eight. Seijuro waved a hand in front of his face.

"Shuuzo-san? Are you okay?" He blinked and came back into reality.

"How do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what? All I did was play like I usually do."

"Then what was that sneaky move you did in the last seconds?! You backed up your bike to be in second place so I could take first place and get the blue shell that _you_ were supposed to get! Of all the dirty tactics—"

"Did you want to play again?"

"No way! Your cunning is way too irritating for me to handle in this game. What else do you want to do?"

"Well—"

His sentence was interrupted by his stomach growling. He stared down at it, looking quite surprised, and Shuuzo could swear the flush on his face grew darker for a second.

"Ah, I suppose my stomach is telling me that it wants food."

"Well then, let's see what you have in the kitchen."

Shuuzo stood up from the ground and helped Seijuro up as well, allowing him to hold on to his arm while they walked into the kitchen with Nuisance walking behind them. Shuuzo guided Seijuro to the dining table and sat him down and Nuisance jumped onto an empty chair across from him while he scoped the refrigerator.

"What do you want to eat, Seijuro?"

"Tofu soup."

"Wha—! Such a quick response! What's with you and tofu anyway? What's so great about it?" Seijuro gave him the most scandalized expression he had ever seen in his life as if he had just accidentally offended his great ancestors; even the cat looked horrified as if it were already acquainted with her master's love of tofu.

"What's so great about it?" he repeated "I believe the phrase you're looking for is 'What's _not_ great about it', Shuuzo-san." He rolled his eyes as he searched for this alleged tofu in the fridge, also getting out mushrooms, green onions and the like, prepping to make what Seijuro had requested. In the meantime, Seijuro played with Nuisance some more, taking a Clementine from the fruit bowl and rolling it around, watching her try and grab it from him. Shuuzo got to work, chopping the vegetables and boiling the tofu. He made some miso soup and added it to the ingredients. Once he was done, he dished out two servings and he brought both servings to the table, along with two glasses of water.

"There, I've made you tofu soup. Are you satisfied now?"

"Yes, thank you Shuuzo-san. It looks very delicious."

Shuuzo watched as Seijuro used his chopsticks to take a piece of boiled tofu and put it into his mouth. He chewed slowly and thoughtfully before an expression of satisfaction dawned on his face and a smile of gratitude also made itself apparent on his face.

"It tastes really good, Shuuzo-san." Shuuzo rubbed the back of his neck.

"Hehe, flattery will get you nowhere." he joked. He reached across the table and ruffled Seijuro's hair before going back to his food. "But I'm glad you like it."

~O~

After food, Seijuro took another round of medication as it had been four hours. By then, it was only a few hours left until the others got home so Shuuzo suggested they watch a little TV flipping the channels to watch a movie. They both sat down on the couch and turned on some sci-fi film, not knowing exactly what genre either person liked. It was about some guy who is abandoned on a desolate uninhabited planet, only to find that it actually is inhabited and he has to fight his way through aliens to survive and get back home. It was a two hour movie so it could keep them pretty occupied. Halfway through the movie, Seijuro's eyes began to droop, and he felt himself nodding off. By the time the movie finished and the end credits began to roll, Shuuzo looked over at him to find him knocked out cold. He scratched his head.

"Hmm? When did that happen?" he mumbled to himself. Seijuro was laying on his side, curling up on the other half of the couch exactly the way Nuisance curls up when she falls asleep. His cat-like resemblance was uncanny.

 _But wait,_ he thought, _Seijuro said that if he got tired, he was told that he should go sleep in his room. He really shouldn't be sleeping here._

He was just about to wake him up when he stopped and looked at how peaceful he seemed in his sleep. The way his arm hung off the edge of the couch, the way his breathing sounded lighter, the way he looked so relaxed, Shuuzo couldn't bring himself to wake him up. He sighed at his sentimentality getting the best of him and knelt down next to the younger boy.

"I guess it can't be helped." He said, and without another word, he pulled Seijuro onto his back and carried him upstairs, the redhead blissfully unaware of what's going on. Shuuzo trod over to his room and opened the door with a free hand. Walking over to his bed, he pulled the covers off halfway, bending as forward as possible so he didn't fall off. Then, he put him into bed, transferring him from his back into his arms as he lay the boy down to rest, pulling the covers over Seijuro. Taking a look at his sleeping face one more time, he pat his head softly before exiting the room and shutting the door quietly.

~O~

"We're back~!"

"Shuuzo where are you?"

Shuuzo stood up from the living room couch and looked over at the four, returning from school.

"Oh hey," he said as he greeted everyone. "How's it going?"

"It's good." Chihiro answered. Reo shoved Chihiro out of the way and went up to Shuuzo.

"Nee, nee, how's Sei-chan? Is he okay? Where is he?"

"Oh." Shuuzo pointed to the upstairs "He got tired while we were watching a movie so I put him to bed."

"What? A sick Sei-chan sleeping?! Kotarou! Go get the camera!"

"Aye, aye, Reo-nee!"

"Oi, keep it down!"

* * *

 **Okay I'm going to bed. Also, a thought sprung to mind after I finished this. As an alleviation of writer's block for my other fanfic, I'll write for this one when I'm not writing for the other one and vice versa. Meaning, I'll probably be keeping this fanfic up for a while. So I hope you're satisfied. I realized that I probably won't be ending either any time soon.**

 **Read and Review please! Until next time!**


	6. The more the merrier

**Hey guys sorry for the delay! I am here and I am back with another chapter today! I would've gotten this finished sooner but I've had a rough week and I got so stressed that it gave me writers block for a few days. But of course, I overcame it. And now I can finally deliver this chapter that I've been writing since last week. Now, I only read through it once or twice so I apologize in advance for any typos, but other than that, enjoy!**

* * *

The more the merrier

Ahhh Friday. The greatest day in the week, the day where you can look ahead and see nothing but two whole days where you're obligated to do absolutely nothing. Just waking up on a Friday can make someone happy. Ah yes, but there _is_ the matter of school today. It's not the weekend just yet. Well, technically, it is for a certain redhead.

He woke up with a slow start. He was in his pyjamas, obviously, and he was lying in his room attempting to open his eyes as he finally stirred. His bed was a complete mess. With pillows on the floor and the duvet half-off the bed, Seijuro was beginning to believe that the night he just slept through wasn't as peaceful as he imagined it would be.

Seijuro sat up in bed and stretched. Opening his eyes, he realized that he still felt a bit out of it; dazed and disoriented was the perfect way to describe how he was feeling at that moment. It's like he had been sleeping for centuries. All he could remember was watching some sci-fi movie and now here he was in bed. What was even the time? He looked over at his digital clock to check and realized it was 7:46 a.m. Well, his body still felt weak and his mind still felt a bit hazy, but his body wasn't aching so much anymore; he felt a little bit better than yesterday. Whether or not he was well enough to go anywhere was most likely for Chihiro to decide, however. A familiar meow caught his attention and Seijuro turned to find Nuisance staring up at him. He smiled and stroked her head, making her purr affectionately. Seijuro probably would've said something to her along the lines of a 'Hello' or 'Good morning', but he nearly choked on his own words, quite literally at that. He swallowed and winced. His throat was so dry, it was basically like a desert, which was probably the reason why he could barely manage above a whisper at the moment. It sucked, but he realized that if he wanted hydration, he'd need to get up. So, for the second time in two days, he _reluctantly_ got out of bed and trudged downstairs with Nuisance trailing behind, the only thing on his mind being a glass of water.

Upon (finally) getting to the last step of the stairs, he made his way over to the kitchen along with his furry companion. Everyone was at the table eating breakfast, including Shuuzo. Chihiro looked up from his food and spotted his younger brother.

"Ah, good morning, Seijuro." Everyone from the table stopped and looked over to the young teen emerging from the staircase in surprise.

"Ah—Sei's awake!"

"Yo chibi."

"Sei-chan~!"

"Good morning, everyone." Seijuro responded, his voice slightly scratchy. He rubbed his eyes and went to go pour himself a glass of water and grab himself two pieces of bread, coming back to occupy the empty chair next to Shuuzo. The black-haired older cousin glanced down at him and ruffled his hair.

"You sure slept a while didn't you?" he said with a short laugh.

"It felt like I did." Seijuro replied as he reached for the jam. "When did I fall asleep?"

"About six-thirty last night."

"Six-thirty?"

"Well yeah. When the movie finished yesterday, you passed out on the couch so I had to carry you upstairs."

"…Oh…" Reo pouted from the other side of the table.

"No fair! I want to carry Sei-chan upstairs too!"

"Hahaha Reo-nee okaa-san…"

"Kotarou no one is asking you!"

Shuuzo put a hand on Seijuro's forehead.

"Your fever hasn't gone down all that much." he said. "You're still burning hot. Where's the thermometer?" Kotarou stood up and fetched the small device. When Shuuzo took it from his hand, he put it into Seijuro's mouth without warning, taking him by surprise. When the thermometer beeped after almost a minute or so, he read the temperature. 38.5. Only slightly less than yesterday. Seijuro frowned.

"So, I can't go to school today either?" Chihiro shook his head.

"I'm afraid not. You'll need to stay home again until your fever is gone. I'll notify your teachers that you can't make it today. Although, today's been marked a half day at school anyway."

"A half day?"

"Have you forgotten? Today, schools everywhere are being let off early for a teachers training course or something. So we'll be back early today."

When everyone was done eating, they washed and put away the plates, got their things together and headed for the door. Before they stepped outside, Chihiro turned towards Shuuzo.

"Okay, you're in charge of Seijuro again. Make sure he takes his medicine. Call us if you need anything." Shuuzo nodded.

"Leave it to me." he said. The four brothers said their goodbyes and shut the front door, leaving the two alone in the house. Seijuro gazed over at his older cousin with an anticipating gleam in his eyes.

"So, how about another game of checkers?"

"Heh. You're on!"

~O~

"Goddammit Seijuro stop winning!"

For the fifth game in a row, Shuuzo sat in defeat on the other side of the table, his head in his hands. Seijuro shrugged.

"I don't exactly know how to accomplish that, Shuuzo-san." The black-haired teenager crossed his arms and made his face into some sort of semi-pout.

"Can't you have mercy on your older cousin at least once?" Seijuro blinked.

"If you'd like, you can choose another game this time."

"Tch."

Shuuzo packed up the checkerboard and put it back in the drawer under the TV. Upon putting it back, he spotted a stack of blank paper next to where he was supposed to put the checkerboard. Instead of picking another game, he took the stack of paper out and set it on the table.

"Oi, do you have any coloured pencils?"

~O~

So instead of playing a competitive game, surprisingly, they ended up drawing for a while. There was indeed a pack of coloured pencils lying around somewhere in the house. Once it was located, they took it to the living room and opened it. The reason behind deciding to draw was unknown. It was like some type of unspoken agreement when he brought the paper out, so Seijuro couldn't possibly disagree. The redhead peeked over at Shuuzo's paper.

"Shuuzo-san, what are you drawing?" Instead of waiting for an answer, he leaned closer to get a glimpse of his sheet of paper. He was sketching a head of someone. Seijuro observed closely as Shuuzo used a pencil to make thin strokes onto the face. He was drawing the eyes at the moment. The eyes of this person were strange and piercing, like a cat. The thin nose was being drawn, and then the mouth; the lips plateauing near the bottom of the face with the corners being only slightly turned upwards. The pencil went up and down again in long broad strokes over the head to draw messy hair. If Seijuro had to guess, that person looked like they had just crawled out of bed. In fact, this person was starting to look eerily familiar. Very eerily familiar.

"You're drawing me?" he asked after five minutes of watching. Shuuzo looked up from his paper.

"Yeah, I just felt like it." he answered. "Whaddya think? Look anything like you?" Seijuro took the paper from him and examined it. Now that he mentioned it, his drawing was spot on. It would probably look even better when he added colour. What the heck why was Shuuzo taking a management course in university when he clearly should've become an art major?

"It's the spitting image of me." Seijuro said as he handed him back the paper. "It's really good." Shuuzo grinned triumphantly.

"Ya think? I should start charging money for this." Seijuro then grabbed a pencil from the drawer and began to sketch as well. Shuuzo looked over at his paper now.

"Now what are you drawing, Seijuro?" Seijuro halted the pencil on his page, and gazed up at him.

"I want to draw Shuuzo-san." he said. "Stay still for a bit." Shuuzo sighed and kept his position, his head resting on his hands. Seijuro went to work sketching. He started off with his head, of course and then drew in his hair. After drawing the hair, he sketched the eyes, making the detail as accurate as possible. To do that, he had to look at Shuuzo's eyes for a while, which was quite uncomfortable for the latter, but he got over it. Next, he drew the nose and then the mouth. He gave the mouth a very subtle frown for good measure. He then drew the hand that Shuuzo's head was resting on when he finished the facial features. Then, he was done. He dropped his pencil and showed it to Shuuzo.

"Does it look like you?" Shuuzo took a look at the finished drawing and nodded, seeming to be impressed.

"Not bad, not bad at all." he said "Since when did you learn how to sketch?" Seijuro shrugged.

"I suppose it's just something I can do." Suddenly Shuuzo's phone vibrates and the black-haired teenager takes the device out of his bag to check the notification. Taking a couple seconds to read the text message that flashes on his screen, he taps out a reply. Seijuro rests his head on the table.

"Who is it?" Shuuzo puts his phone down.

"It's my mom." he answers nonchalantly "She wants to know how I'm doing, so I just told her that I'm watching over you since you're sick."

"I see." Another vibration. Shuuzo goes back to his phone and reads another text.

"Ah, she says she wants to see you, so I should take a picture…"

"A picture?"

"I don't understand my mom's logic, but if that's what she wants… You don't mind, do you?"

"No, I don't mind at all."

"Okay, c'mere for a second."

Seijuro padded over to his cousin and sat next to him on the other side of the table. While he did that, Shuuzo put the front camera so the camera was showing their faces on screen. When the camera was in focus, he pressed the white button and the phone clicked. Looking back at the photo and feeling satisfied, he sent it to his mother and locked his phone.

"Now, let's colour these things!"

 _ **Meanwhile, in a house somewhere in Tokyo…**_

A mother with jet black hair and greyish-blue eyes had just finished putting the dishes away into all the correct cabinets and she sat down on the kitchen table, taking a short break before she moved on to the next chore. Right as she sat down though, her phone vibrated. Looking at the screen and opening the notification, she smiled when the notification revealed a singular photo. It was a picture of Shuuzo and Seijuro, each looking intently at the camera.

"Ah, isn't that just precious?" she said to herself as she gawked at the photo for a little longer. Suddenly, instead of a vibration, her phone began to ring. The mother looked at the caller ID and picked up the phone.

"Asami, what a lovely surprise for you to call. How are you?"

" _I'm very well thank you._ " the woman on the other line replied. " _I'm just checking up on everyone this side of the family. My children left the house for school a few hours ago, so I've just been sitting around. What are you up to, Hitomi?_ " The woman laid back on the chair.

"I was just done talking with Shuuzo." she said.

" _Really? I haven't seen Shuuzo-kun since last summer! How is your son doing? He's in university, isn't he?_ "

"Yes, but he's spending the weekend with his cousins over near his university in Kyoto. You remember Chihiro and the other boys?"

" _Of course. Is he there now? Don't the boys have school?_ "

"They do." she said. "But he's taking care of the youngest, Seijuro. He's been feeling poorly for the past couple of days you see."

" _Oh the poor thing! Is he feeling any better today?_ "

"I would imagine so, Shuuzo just sent me the cutest picture of them!"

" _Is that so? Send it to me so I can have a look._ "

"I'll be sure to do so." There was a rustling on the other line as the mother heard the caller open a door, with a jingling of car keys accompanying the sound.

" _Well, I have a few errands to run, so I'll be heading out. It was nice talking with you, Hitomi._ "

"The same to you, Asami. Take care!"

" _Goodbye!_ "

The line cut and the mother went back to the photo. She forwarded it on to Asami before locking her phone and going back to tending to the house.

~O~

In schools all across the district, it was break time. Many student would either go hang around outside or just chat in the classrooms or hallways. In the middle of break, a phone vibrated in someone's pocket. A hand dug inside the pocket and took the device out, unlocking it and opening the notification. It was a text message. The owner of the phone read the short message.

 _Look, honey! It's a picture of Shuuzo-kun and Seijuro-kun from today. Isn't it cute?_

Eyes glanced down at the photo and widened in surprise when he saw the alleged photo of the two posing for the camera, Shuuzo looking quite normal but Seijuro on the other hand looking an absolute mess with his hair tousled, his eyes half dead and his cheeks flushed. What happened to him? Finger danced across the keypad of the phone and sent a message in reply back to his mother.

 _Eeeh?! Is he sick?_

Thirty seconds passed by before he saw an answer.

 _Yes, Shuuzo-kun is looking after him today though. He's been sick for a couple of days I've heard. Maybe you should visit him today after school!_

 _Really? I should go?_

 _Of course. It'll be a nice surprise. Why don't you take the others with you as well to cheer him up? I'm sure it'll make Seijuro-kun very happy. I'll talk with their parents and see if they're free. In the meantime, talk to them before you get out of school._

 _Okay! Bye mom!_

 _Goodbye, Ryouta._

He closed the text message app and went onto Facebook, opening up a group chat labelled 'Skittles' (not before temporarily removing Seijuro from it first). He began typing a message.

 _Hey guys, are you there?_

A message came back in response.

 _What is it, Ryouta-kun?_

Then another.

 _Oi, Ryouta! You woke me up with your stupid notification!_

And it kept going.

 _Daiki, you sleep way too much._

 _And you eat too much you super-sized idiot._

 _Daiki, Taiga, enough of your annoying bickering._

 _Dai-chan, I agree with Shin-chan~_

 _Oi! No one asked you Satsuki!_

 _Eh? Tetsu-chin, why is Ryo-chin messaging the group chat?_

 _Ah, Atsushi-kun. It's probably nothing important._

Ryouta pouted. Of course this was a serious matter. But since he never seemed like the serious type no one ever took him that way, unless he was playing basketball of course. He typed another message.

 _Ah but this is important! Check this out._

He sent the photo that his mom had sent him minutes before, and suddenly he received an entourage of messages.

 _Oi, is Seijuro sick?_

 _Since when does Seijuro get sick?!_

 _What's wrong with Sei-chin?_

 _What happened with Seijuro?_

 _Is Sei-kun okay?_

 _Ryouta-kun, spill the details._

Ryouta tapped on the keypad once more.

 _Yeah, my mom said that Seijurocchi's been sick for a couple days and Shuuzocchi's looking after him while he stays over. Also…_

All attention was on him in the group chat as he typed up the next message.

 _Are any of you free after school?_

 _ **Flash forward. Kyoto a few hours later in the Rakuzan household…**_

Seijuro and Shuuzo were bored. There were many drawings scattered all over the floor. After those first two drawings, they went sketch crazy; the two drawing everything in sight, whether it was Shuuzo drawing a plant by the door or Seijuro making Nuisance sit down so he could draw her instead. They ended up drawing for so long that their hands cramped up, and so they decided to stop. Now, they were laying on the couches, without a purpose.

"I'm so bored." Shuuzo said after a long silence. Seijuro sighed as he stared up at the blank ceiling.

"I'm bored as well." he said. "I want to play basketball."

"You can't." Shuuzo said immediately. "It's pouring rain outside and you're still sick. I know you want to play, but you have to rest indoors." The redhead frowned.

"I know." he said abruptly. Shuuzo glanced at Seijuro from the corner of his eye.

"Okay, I know you know." he said "But you don't have to make such a face." Seijuro turned the other way in protest.

"I'm not making any face."

"Liar. You're totally making a face right now. If I were to guess, I'd say you're sulking."

"I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

Shuuzo rolled his eyes in amusement as Seijuro buried his face into one of the cushions and made some type of groaning sound. Honestly, not being able to do anything must suck for him. Especially since he hasn't played basketball since Wednesday. He was becoming restless.

"Well if you're _that_ bored…" Suddenly, the sound of the doorbell resonated through the house. Seijuro stood up from the couch in confusion.

"That's odd. We shouldn't be expecting anyone today." Him and Shuuzo walked over to the front door and twisted the door open. The people at the door had completely taken them aback as they stared in shock. Seven people standing at the door with hair that made them look like a walking rainbow all stared inside at the occupants of the house. Seijuro stared back before the yellow-haired teenager spoke first.

"Nice to see you Seijurocchi, we've come to visit-ssu!"

Yep, you guessed it. The GoM have arrived.

* * *

 **Done! It hope you liked it. If you're wondering where I got the names for Nijimura and Kise's mothers, Hitomi is a Japanese name you'd give to a female with really beautiful eyes (I always loved Nijimura's grey eye colour so I did something based around that). As for Kise's mom, Asami means something along the lines of 'Morning Beauty'. I thought why not? Kise's beautiful, so he clearly must've gotten it from somewhere. It would only make sense that everyone in his family are drop-dead gorgeous.**

 **But yes, anyway, I will be back. I'm intending to continue this soon, I aim to upload another chapter by the end of this weekend latest. Until then, peace out!**


	7. Adventures at the grocery store

**Hello, I have returned. I said I would upload a chapter by the end of the weekend and I did. Again, I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, they really make my day. Especially the most recent one. (The reviewer called me Author-san and I've been smiling like an idiot since two in the morning on Friday) Yeah, you guys should just refer to me as Author-san now because wow I love that nickname. Anyway, without further ado, here is the next chapter!**

* * *

Adventures at the grocery store

Seijuro and Shuuzo were dumfounded by the surprise visit of their cousins at the door. Taiga, Tetsuya, Ryouta, Shintarou, Daiki, Satsuki and Atsushi were all standing right in front of them. The redhead finally processed what was just happening and finally began to speak.

"Everyone, what are you doing here?" he said in total shock. Ryouta answered his question.

"I heard from the grapevine that you were sick and so we decided to come and visit!" Daiki huffed from behind him.

"Actually it was more like he gathered us and we decided to come." he added. "But whatever. I only came because Satsuki dragged me along."

"You should have more concern for your own relatives, Dai-chan!" the pink-haired girl exclaimed.

"She's right, Daiki." Taiga added. "Even I came here without being dragged."

"That's false Taiga-kun. It took a while to convince you to come since you heard that Daiki-kun was coming." Tetsuya said as he appeared next to him.

"That's because I can't stand being in the same room as this moron!"

"Who're you calling a moron?!"

"Sei-chin~ are you feeling better?" Atsushi said, completely ignoring their argument. Shuuzo shook his head as he listened quietly to all their banter.

"Honestly, I can't believe all of you came." he muttered. Wait a second, no they didn't. He looked back at the colourful group outside and did a head count. One, two, three, four, five six, seven…seven?

"Oi, where's the other one?"

"The other one?" Tetsuya repeats "Ah, you mean Shōgo-kun."

"He had remedial classes after school," said Shintarou "so he'll be joining us later, nanodayo."

"Hmph! That little punk…"

So, the gang was all here. Standing at the doorway, conversing with one another, laughing, this was a nice setup that made Seijuro smile a little bit. Because of this surprise visit, now he was relieved of his boredom and now he got to spend the day with his cousins, who took the train all the way from Tokyo as well. What a treat indeed.

"I'm very happy that all of you came." Seijuro said to the others. "You should come in before it gets too cold." Everyone nodded and took off their shoes at the entrance, making their way towards the living room.

"Ah, it's about time that we got off that stuffy train." Daiki said as he flopped down on one of the couches. "I guess everyone wanted to go to Kyoto or something 'cause that thing was packed."

"But Dai-chan, there was a space next to Taiga-kun."

"I'd sooner take my chances standing than having to sit next to him of all people."

"Oi! I heard that!"

While the two began arguing again, Shintarou went over to Seijuro and sat down.

"By the way, Seijuro," he said "Sagittarius ranked last today in Oha Asa so I figured I might as well bring this." Behind him, he revealed a rather large suitcase and unzipped it, bringing out a rather large teddy bear that was over half the red head's size. Seijuro looked down at it and blinked.

"Um…this is…"

"Your lucky item of course, nanodayo." Shintarou stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "I didn't want to risk anything so I brought the biggest one I could find on such short notice; I would advise you to hold on to it at all times."

"So then where's your own lucky item?"

"Mine? It's the suitcase I brought it in, nanodayo."

He thrust the ginormous thing into the boy's arms and laid back on the couch once more. Seijuro felt like he was going to suffocate under the large mass of stuffing that was sitting in his lap. Nevertheless, he paid heed to Shintarou's words and held onto the large plush toy, wrapping his arms around the front and relaxing once more. Everyone else stood up and gazed over at their cousin.

"Seijurocchi, Shintaroucchi's not the only one who brought something for you. We brought you things as well-ssu!" Seijuro watched as everyone produced something from their bags and gave them to him one by one.

Tetsuya and Taiga gave him scented candles that relive stress.

Daiki and Satsuki brought teabags for herbal lemon tea.

Ryouta brought packets of hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Atsushi gave him maiubo and pocky.

Seijuro looked at them all in astonishment and then smiled.

"Thank you for the gifts." he said gratefully. "It was very kind of you all to go out of your way for me."

"But of course, Seijuro-kun." Tetsuya remarked. "After all, you rarely ever get sick."

"True." He set the teddy bear down next to him on the sofa so he could accept all the wonderful presents he's been given, looking particularly content.

"Aside from that, I hope Nuisance doesn't scratch up the giant bear with her claws or anything." he muttered to himself. Everyone raised an eyebrow.

"Nuisance?" Satsuki asked. "Who is Nuisance?"

At the sound of her name, the feline stalked into the living room, going over to Seijuro and weaving around his legs as per usual, making him laugh slightly.

"Hey, Nuisance, that tickles." All the GoM stared at the creature in surprise. Seijuro had a pet now?

"Um, Seijurocchi, what's with the cat?" Seijuro patted the space next to him and the cat leaped onto the couch.

"This is my new cat, Nuisance." he said. "She was a stray at first but Chihiro-nii-san let me keep her. She's cute, isn't she?" Nuisance meowed affectionately as she rubbed her head against her master, causing him in turn to pat her on the head. Everyone flocked over to the creature and began petting it.

"Sei-chan she's adorable!" Satsuki squealed. "How long have you had her for?"

"So far, only two days." he said. "She only became part of our family only recently. Although from what I've seen, she probably likes to cause trouble from time to time." Nuisance stepped over Seijuro and went over to the green-haired teenager sitting on his left. Shintarou immediately shrunk back.

"O-Oi Seijuro, keep the cat away from me!" The redhead blinked.

"Why? Is she bothering you?"

"Of course she is, nanodayo!" he cried, stabbing an incriminating finger at the unsuspecting feline "You know I dislike cats already!"

"Oh yes, cats seem to take a liking to scratching Shintarou all the time."

"Not only that, but she's a black cat! That's the equivalent of about five—no, _seven_ years of bad luck!" Nuisance cocked her head to the side and mewled in confusion. Instead of trying to convince the superstitious teenager otherwise, Seijuro just shook his head and carried her away from the Oha Asa addict, setting her on his lap instead.

"Shintarou you'll hurt her feelings."

"Worry about mine first nanodayo!"

"So," Shuuzo began, interrupting the conversation "now that all of you are here, what do you want to do?" Taiga shrugged.

"Dunno, do you have food in the house?"

"Of course all Taiga-kun wants to do is eat instead of interact with other humans."

"Oi it's not like that Tetsuya! It's just that we've been on the train for hours and I might die of starvation." Seijuro looked back at the kitchen and frowned.

"Actually we are running low on food." he said regretfully. "I'm getting quite hungry as well."

"Oooh! I know!" Ryouta exclaimed, the usual excitement evident in his tone of voice "Why don't we go on a shopping trip-ssu?" Everyone looked towards the yellow-haired boy, slightly impressed that he actually came up with a good idea for once.

"A shopping trip? That sounds fun!" said Satsuki "Let's go shopping!"

"I wanna see the maiubo in Kyoto. Maybe they have new flavours~" Atsushi drawled. Shintarou adjusted his glasses.

"If there isn't much to eat here then it would be best to buy groceries." he said. The other put in their words of agreement as well. Seijuro looked over at Shuuzo expectantly. The elder cousin caught his look and stared back.

"Seijuro, you're sick." he said. "It might not be a good idea."

"But Shuuzo-san," the redhead protested "I've been stuck in the house for more than two days. It would be nice to get some fresh air. And the rain has let up today, so the weather isn't as bad."

"Seijuro, I've been told to watch over you, y'know. If anything happens to you, I'm pretty sure your brothers will murder me."

"Then I'll take full responsibility. I'm not a child, Shuuzo-san."

"You're not a child but you _are_ one of the youngest out of everyone in this room."

Seijuro glowered and crossed his arms, glaring daggers at Shuuzo. It wasn't often that the redhead's requests were denied so he wasn't taking it very well. It was difficult to persuade Shuuzo, he was hard-headed, stubborn and was never easily swayed. Although usually, when it comes to those times where he won't budge from his opinion, Seijuro often had to ultimately resort to playing at the older cousin's one weakness. Yeah, that meant he had to stoop pretty low, probably even lower than low, but he was desperate to go outside after being in the house for so long. So, with that thought in mind, he pushed out his lower lip a bit and made his face into a pout as he tugged at Shuuzo's sleeve, gaining his attention.

"You're very stubborn, Shuu-chan."

Shuuzo faltered visibly when he heard that. Did his ears deceive him? If he heard correctly, he just heard Seijuro call him 'Shuu-chan'. And was he pouting as well? Since when did he become that cute? Shuuzo didn't even say anything. He just stared at the boy, mouth completely ajar. Seijuro gazed up at the black-haired teenager with pleading eyes.

"Let me go outside, Shuu-chan. Please?" It took all that Shuuzo had to keep his composure. He thought he was going to explode just listening to Seijuro any longer. It was such a shame that no one was filming that and goddammit why was Seijuro being so freaking cute that was totally unfair. Shuuzo was utterly bewildered as he tried to hide how flustered he was. _This kid_ , he thought, _he's such a goddamn cheater._

"I-I don't know, Seijuro" Shuuzo stammered as he turned the other way. Meanwhile the others were watching the little performance with the same exact thought on all of their minds.

 _It's so low-level!_

Knowing that he hasn't won him over just yet, Seijuro put a hand on his older cousin's shoulder maintaining the pout on his face.

"Then let me rephrase, Shuu-chan." he said. "Let me go outside, or I'll tell Reo-nii-san and the others that you're being mean to me." The mention of being tattled on sent shivers down his spine. Considering the fact that Reo was the most protective over the boy, he'd get skinned alive if he heard that his Sei-chan was allegedly being 'bullied'.

"Hmm…" He grabbed the back of his neck and pondered what to do, trying to work out which of the consequences were greater. If he takes them shopping and let's Seijuro have a bit of fresh air, it could be possible that nothing happens, and they can go home without a problem. However, if something happens to him during the outing, he's a dead man for sure. On the contrary, if he doesn't take them shopping and most likely goes by himself, Seijuro could get mad and tell his brothers and Shuuzo, most likely as a result, would get maimed by Reo. Not to mention the fact that Seijuro is pouting. _The_ Seijuro has resorted to _pouting_. Also 'Shuu-chan'? If Shuuzo could recall correctly, the redhead only calls him that when he's hell-bent on getting his way; not to be childish, but because the boy knows damn well he can't say no to that face. He can already feel himself giving in. Frick. Not good. NOT GOOD. _NOT GOOD_.

Seijuro inwardly smirked in victory. _It seems I've got him,_ he thought. His prediction was indeed correct, and Shuuzo bit his lip as he stood up from the couch, emitting a rather large sigh, annoyed with himself for being so mentally weak.

"Fine, fine I get it you want to go outside. You can drop the act now." Seijuro tilted his head slightly, his smile deceptively innocent.

"Why Shuuzo-san, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yeah, yeah put on your goddamn shoes all of you let's just go to the shopping centre already."

~O~

So there it was, Kyoto's shopping centre. It was quite a big building, containing not only an enormous grocery store, but side shops as well, such as stores that sold tabloids and small knick-knacks, bookstores, small clothing stores and there was even a food court; luckily their house was close enough to be walking distance. Before they left the house, Shuuzo left a note on the table explaining their other cousins' visit and their shopping trip, debriefing the brothers (who would read it when they returned, which was probably any minute at that moment) of the current situation at hand. Everyone was slightly taken aback at how big the building the shopping centre was.

"Woah~ it's huge!" Ryouta said in awe. "This is where you go shopping?"

"Yes," Seijuro replied "It's like an everything in one building. Convenient, isn't it?"

Well this was nice. Finally, he got to stretch his legs out a bit. Being in the house for two days straight really made him long for the outside. Seijuro never was the type of person to stay indoors for too long. It often made him fidgety and he'd always want to get up and do something. Which was all the more reason why this little shopping trip was the perfect antidote.

The large group finally reached the building and entered through one of the large automatic sliding doors. Immediately, they were hit with a wave of intermingling sounds; the children running around and playing, the vendors advertising their product, the commercials playing on the televisions in the stores, the announcements heard on the speakers, everything came at them all at once. Although since the weather had been atrocious lately, it wasn't as crowded as it usually was. As soon as they stepped through the entrance, Shuuzo got everyone's attention.

"Okay, listen up all of you." he declared. "During this shopping trip, all of you are going to stay close to me. Don't wander off to any other stores, don't fall behind and definitely do not leave this building. Break any of those rules and I'll kick your asses. Got it?" Everyone nodded vigorously and watched as he gestured them all to the grocery store.

"Let's go."

~O~

"This shopping trip might be more exhausting than I thought."

As if it wasn't bad enough watching a bunch of rainbow basketball kids at home, but it was even more tedious to take them on an outing. The commotion they cause walking into places was amazing. Taiga and Daiki did nothing but argue; Satsuki kept ogling over how cute Tetsuya looked just casually sitting in the shopping cart (the only reason he was sitting there was so he couldn't disappear with his Misdirection); Ryouta just wouldn't stop talking and kept going on and on, words flowing out of his mouth like water from a faucet; Shintarou was quiet, but he insisted on taking that ridiculously large suitcase he called a lucky item and it was starting to get on Shuuzo's nerves; also Atsushi kept crunching the whole time. Who knew a bag of chips could be so obnoxious? Although the one he kept his eye on the most was Seijuro, who was walking alongside him, holding onto the side of the shopping cart as he silently browsed the aisles.

"We should get this." Daiki said as he pulled out a box of sweets from one of the aisles. Shuuzo took the box from him and promptly used it to smack him upside the head before putting it back on the shelf.

"Stop picking out junk food you idiot!" The black-haired teenager growled "Can't you choose anything from this store that _won't_ give you diabetes?" Daiki mumbled something under his breath as Taiga began to laugh at the growing bump on his head. Shuuzo glanced at Seijuro as he continued to push the cart.

"Hey, what do want to get? And don't tell me that you want tofu because I already know." Seijuro stroked his chin in thought.

"Hmm, I'm not sure. There are a lot of possibilities…" Somehow that answer irritated Shuuzo. Like seriously, if you're gonna beg to go on a shopping trip, the least you could do is make up your mind about what you actually want before you leave the house. The older cousin sighed.

"If you don't hurry up and choose, I'm gonna fill this cart with nothing but pickled ginger and seaweed." He couldn't help but smirk slightly as he saw Seijuro wince at the mention of those two foods. If there's anything the redhead finds the most disgusting, it's pickled ginger and seaweed by a landslide.

"Then how about we make a hot-pot?" he suggested hastily. "I think everyone would enjoy that." Shuuzo shrugged.

"I think we can manage that. Let's go to the produce section so we can get some vegetables."

They walked a few aisles down to the vast display of fruits and vegetables. Shuuzo sent everyone across the aisle to get various things such as shiitake mushrooms, lettuce, bok choy and, obviously, tofu. But of course, Daiki and Taiga decided to turn everything into some type of distorted basketball game as usual and made a competition to see who can shoot their vegetables into the cart from the farthest distance. Obviously Shintarou stepped in and destroyed them both, they were naïve to think that they could win such a competition against the number one shooter in the Tokyo middle school division. The only ones who weren't playing were Satsuki, who stayed by the cart, Atsushi, who was busy munching the bag of chips on him, Tetsuya, who was still sitting in the cart (at this point his shooting needed work so he probably wouldn't have participated anyway) and Seijuro, who was standing with the other non-participating miracles, examining a radish to see how ripe it was before putting it in the cart. That was when he got a call on his cell phone. He looked at the caller ID and was mildly surprised to see who was calling. Shuuzo leaned over to check as well.

"Who is it?"

"It's Shōgo."

"Keh!"

He picked up the phone and answered.

"Hello? Shōgo? Are you still coming?"

" _Relax, don't get your panties in a knot I'm comin'!_ " he said through the phone. " _My mom made me since 'everyone else was going'. Geez, what a pain in the ass…_ "

"So where are you?"

" _Ugh. If you wanna know that badly I'm near some park._ "

"A park? Do you know where you are?"

" _Like hell I know! I have no idea where I'm going!_ "

Seijuro was about to respond but then was interrupted by loud noise and shouting on the other line.

" _Oi! Which one of you punks threw that basketball at my head?!_ " Seijuro blinked and tried to talk with the grey-haired boy.

"Shōgo, what's going on over there?" He didn't receive an answer, just more shouting.

" _So you think it's funny huh? Wanna fight?_ " Seijuro grimaced on the other side of the call. He realized exactly what was going on and he intended to put a stop to it.

"Shōgo! Don't you dare start a fight with anyone over there. Are you listening?"

" _I'll knock your frickin' teeth out!_ "

"Hey, Shōgo—"

It was already too late, the line cut off and Seijuro was left to stare at his phone screen. Shuuzo was looking at the redhead in confusion, wondering what was going on.

"What is it?" Seijuro turned to face his cousin, looking about 527% done with Shōgo's useless antics.

"He got into a fight on the phone and now he's somewhere in the area most likely causing trouble."

"He did what now?"

Shuuzo felt at least ten veins pop as he sighed in utmost irritation and gathered all the miracles back to the cart.

"Hey you guys! Hurry up and put those groceries in the cart, we're leaving early. Oi! Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber over there, stop arguing we're going!" Taiga and Daiki shared a look of discontent before rushing over with the groceries they went to retrieve, throwing them in the cart as they trailed behind their older cousin. As if handling eight middle school kids in a shopping centre was bad enough, now he has to go and drag a ninth out of a pointless fight he initiated. Shuuzo gritted his teeth in annoyance.

 _That kid_ , he thought, _I'm gonna kill him if he tries anything funny._

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 **Okay! That concludes this chapter (I hope you liked the little cliffhanger). Also, in the previous chapter, for the record, I unintentionally left Haizaki out and didn't realize until after my upload, so instead of fixing it, I decided to make a little detour in my storyline and squeeze in some extra chapters for you people because I love you all. Hope you liked that too. I'll try and update soon, but until then...**

 **Read and review please!**


	8. Fight night

**OH GOD I THOUGHT I WOULDN'T DO THIS AGAIN BUT HERE I AM AT 4 IN THE MORNING UPLOADING ANOTHER CHAPTER WHEN I HAVE TO WAKE UP IN THREE AND A HALF HOURS JESUS CHRIST. But oh well. It can't be helped. I didn't think I had the motivation tonight to work on another chapter but apparently I did and man did I shift into maximum overdrive.**

 **Also to inspirit94er, thank you for the insightful information. I was able to fix the blurb in the previous chapter. Yeah guys on that note, if I say something incorrect, feel free to PM me or add it in a review to tell me so I can fix it. It's really not a problem at all. Anyway, on the the next chapter!**

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Fight night

Finishing their grocery shopping a bit early, the nine of them rushed out of the Kyoto shopping centre, going on a hunt for the ninth member of the rainbow crew, Shōgo. Of course he got himself into another fight. He was always a 'problem child', taking delight in causing trouble wherever he went for no good reason. Now, it was up to the GoM and their older cousin Shuuzo to go and prevent his sorry behind from getting pulverized to bits.

"That Shōgo…" Shuuzo hissed through his teeth "he really enjoys pissing me off, doesn't he?"

"Well, it is in his nature, Shuuzo-san." said Seijuro as he trailed behind him.

"Why the hell are we even going after him?" Daiki asked. "Do we even know where he is?"

Seijuro thought back to the phone conversation he just had with the boy.

 _Ugh. If you wanna know that badly I'm near some park._

"Well, I have a vague idea." Seijuro commented before pointing to the right and directing them towards where he believed the troublesome teenager would be. "Everyone, this way!"

They turned through all the corners of the street, weaving through intersections, going through alleyways as shortcuts, getting held up at traffic and nearly getting lost along the way. Eventually, their journey took them to an empty looking street, with nothing exciting on the block except for a small café. Everyone looked around.

"Geez, where on earth is Shōgo-kun? He's really done it this time-ssu." Ryouta said as he searched one end of the street.

"I'm tired~" Atsushi yawned as he stood in place. "I wonder if there are any food stands around here."

"Atsushi-kun, now is not the time." Tetsuya chided. "We really should be looking for Shōgo-kun."

"Hey, Tetsuya, you seen anything yet?" Taiga asked as he came up from behind. The small blue-haired boy shook his head. "Not yet. Seijuro-kun, are you sure he's around here?" Seijuro nodded.

"He did tell me he was near a park, and I know that there should be a park around here somewhere. Although I'm not sure where exactly it is, since I go to a different park nearer to my house."

"Let us hope we're not too late, nanodayo." Shintarou said as he adjusted his glasses.

Satsuki waved an arm over at the street she was looking in. "Guys! I think I found it!" she called to the large group. Everyone ran over and peered into the street she was looking in. Sure enough, there was the park that they were looking for, and, unfortunately, there was ruckus over there with a few of guys, one of them being Shōgo. Shuuzo shook his head and sighed.

"Alright, let's go get that brat out of trouble."

~O~

Well, it seemed Shōgo got himself into another situation again. He was just minding his own business, calling Seijuro to ask where the hell he's supposed to go, when he took a basketball to the head. Grunting angrily and turning around, he spotted the people who threw the ball. Now, if he were a normal person, he would've shrugged it off and walked in the opposite direction, continuing on to his destination. But no, he was a troublemaking rascal, and if there's something that those types of people have in common, it's blowing things out of proportion as a sad excuse to fight. By the time he had hung up with Seijuro, he was already trying to start something. The grey-haired teen glared at the three suspecting people.

"Oi! What the hell's your problem you bastards!" he spat. The three strangers sneered at Shōgo.

"Chill out wouldja? It was an accident." one of them drawled.

"I don't give a damn that seriously hurt! I'll kill all of you!" The strangers approached Shōgo dangerously, trying to intimidate him.

"You wanna fight kid?" the second one said. Shōgo rolled his sleeves up and cracked his knuckles.

"I'll knock your frickin' teeth out!"

It was the third stranger that took the first swing. Shōgo dodged the move and tried to aim for his face, but the other two pushed him down to the ground and began kicking him. Shōgo put up his hands for defence and rolled out of the way. He stood up from the ground and tried to hit a low point to knock one of them down, but they ganged up on him and cornered him to the edge of the court. The grey-haired teen backed up, realizing he was being surrounded as they pushed him back to the farthest corner on the court. The first stranger grinned smugly.

"Well, well, you're not that strong at all. Someone who's all bark and no bite shouldn't go and try to start things up."

"Teach him a lesson." the second one said.

"Yeah, teach him a lesson." the third one parroted.

Shōgo bit his lip as the three strangers towered over him. The first one smirked and raised his arm to punch him when he heard someone shout something out of the blue.

"IGNITE-PASS KAI!"

The thug turned around and felt the air knocked out of his system as a basketball sped like a bullet towards him and made direct contact with his stomach. He immediately fell to the ground and groaned in pain as the other two looked up in surprise. There, standing at the half court line, was the whole crew. Tetsuya, Taiga, Ryouta, Shintarou, Daiki, Satsuki, Atsushi, Seijuro and Shuuzo all leered menacingly at the three thugs as they stood there in astonishment.

"Hey you punks," Shuuzo growled "what do you think you're doing to our cousin?" The two still standing gulped as they warily observed the nine of them. The one who fell to the ground staggered upwards and, upon seeing who they were dealing with, snorted.

"Heh, you brought more kids with you?" he sneered. "What can a bunch of toddlers like them do?" Shōgo's eyes went wide. Even though he really didn't listen to anyone and picked a fight with basically anything that moved, he knew very well that his cousins all banded together were the _wrong_ people to pick a fight with.

 _Ah crap, they're in for it now_ , he thought as he watched the poor souls standing in front of him dig their own graves.

Shuuzo cracked his neck and smirked as he pointed a finger to the three hooligans and said four words that nearly ended their pathetic miserable lives.

"Let's bust some heads."

 _ **Meanwhile in the Rakuzan household…**_

"Guys, we're home~." Reo announced as the brothers stepped into the house. Kotarou looked down at the floor and blinked.

"Woahhh, there are so many bags lying around."

"Hah?" Eikichi grunted "they're not any of ours." Chihiro quirked an eyebrow as he eyed all the bags on the floor. Could it be…?

"Hey, Chihiro, there's a note taped to the door."

Chihiro glanced over to Reo jabbing a thumb at the piece of paper stuck to the front door covered in hurried scribble. He ripped the thing off the door and began to read it out loud.

"Dear Chihiro and the others," he read "all our cousins visited, went shopping for groceries, be back soon." Well that explains everything. Short, sweet and to the point as well.

"So they went out?" Kotarou instigated. Chihiro shrugged as he crumpled the note up.

"It seems like they did." he said causally. "It also seems that we have unexpected guests. Apparently all our younger cousins are visiting." Reo gasped in excitement.

"Wait, does that mean we get to see all of our adorable cousins today? How nice~!"

"How long do you think they've been gone for?" Eikichi asked. Reo grabbed his cellphone out of his school bag and began dialling a number.

"I know! I'll call Shuuzo to check!"

"Reo, put it on speaker so we can all hear."

"Yes, yes, of course."

He pressed the call button on his phone and waited for it to ring. It rang once, twice, thrice, and then, the phone was answered.

" _Uh, hello?_ "

"Shuuzo, this is Reo. We just got back and we were wondering when all of you will be coming home."

" _Ah—um, we'll probably be back soon._ "

"Is Sei-chan okay?" Reo asked.

" _Y-Yeah. He's feeling better already._ " Shuuzo stammered.

"That's nice to hear. What are you guys doing at the moment?" There was a brief pause.

" _Oh, uh, about that…_ "

" _Kyaaa! Testu-kun you're so cool!_ "

"What was that?"

" _Uh, well—_ "

" _Alright Tetsu! Hit 'em where it hurts!_ "

" _I'll crush you all for trying to beat up Shō-chin._ "

" _You dare try to harm our cousin foolish mortals? You should know your place already._ "

"Eh? Was that Sei-chan?" A nervous laugh was heard from the receiver.

" _Ahahaha! Was it?_ "

" _GYAAAAAAH MY EYES!_ " someone shrieked.

" _Take this you punks!_ "

" _Yeah Taigacchi! Hit 'em with a left hook-ssu!_ "

" _Shintarou! Hand me your suitcase!_ "

" _With pleasure, nanodayo._ " Reo's eyes went huge and his face blanked out as he heard Shuuzo respond on the other line.

" _Er—listen. Imma need to call you back. So…SORRY BYE!_ "

The line cut off leaving the four brothers dumbfounded by the disjointed conversation they just heard. Reo blanched as the caller screen disappeared on his phone.

"Oh dear."

~O~

The ten of them were now walking back to Seijuro's house high fiving each other about the enemies they had just conquered. The three thugs were left lying unconscious on the court, having the living daylights beaten out of them by a bunch of fourteen year old middle school kids and a college student. It was a really unfortunate day for them. Shintarou suggested that Oha Asa might not have been in their favour. At the moment, Shuuzo was physically dragging Shōgo as the others walked alongside the duo. He may have escaped a fight there on the court, but he didn't take into account the ass whooping he'd receive if Shuuzo found out he was causing trouble again. So Shōgo, now looking like he was on the verge of death, allowed himself to go limp as his near-lifeless body was being mercilessly dragged across the pavement while Atsushi carried his bag and the others carried the groceries. When they arrived back at the house, Seijuro opened the door with his house key and they stepped inside.

"We're home." he called into the house. The four brothers were in the living room, watching TV when they heard everyone come in. Chihiro waved over at them.

"Hello all of you." he said. All the GoM went over and greeted their older cousins, telling them about the shopping trip in vast excitement.

"Eh? Grocery shopping? That's what you went to go and do?" Kotarou questioned. Shuuzo rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, yeah." he said. "It was a bit crowded over there, but we managed to get ingredients for a hot-pot."

"But wait," Reo interjected "then what was all the commotion we heard on the other line when we called you?" Shuuzo looked towards the ceiling to find an excuse.

"They were…playing a video game. There was this new fighting video game that they saw in the electronics store."

"Also, why did you hang up on us?"

"Uh, why? The, um, the signal was dodgy… Yeah. That was it."

The four brothers looked over at Shōgo, who was clinging to the last strings of life he had. They all sweat-dropped as they took in his appearance. _What the hell happened to him_ , they all thought. Eikichi pointed a finger at the grey-haired coloured teenager.

"Is he okay?" he asked as he narrowed his eyes at the poor boy. Shuuzo waved a hand nonchalantly.

"Ahhh he's fine." he reassured them. "But I guess he won't cause as much trouble now that I'm watching him."

Seijuro went over to his brothers and sat down with them, the four taking turns ruffling his hair affectionately as they asked him about his day.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my outing." Seijuro said with a small grin. "We should go out again sometime. Right, Shuuzo-san?" Shuuzo patted him on the head as well while the other GoM shared a knowing smile between them.

"That we should, Seijuro. That we should."

* * *

 **Okay, that settles that. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Anyway, I was thinking, if anyone has an idea for a chapter, let me know and I'll see what I can do. This fanfic is really just plotless humour and fluff filled mini episodes so I don't have to go by any strict rules here. But yeah, do consider. Anyway, this time I'm actually going to bed I have school tomorrow; so again, until next time...**

 **Read and review please!**


	9. Lights out

**Yes hello, hello. Sorry for being out for a week. I wanted to take a little break from writing stories but here I am after a long deserved rest. For the first time in forever since I started my last year of high school I actually have no homework (shock horror) and I** **could finally relax as I temporarily fixed my sleep schedule. I say temporary because one, it's nearly three a.m. again so it's a bit wrecked again, and two, it's gonna be destroyed by Friday anyway since I'm flying home to the US for Christmas and that's five hours difference so a lot of jet-lag (I've had worse though so hopefully I'll be less affected). Anyway, I hope you enjoy the next chapter!**

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Lights Out

Another dreary day in the good ol' Rakuzan household it seemed. The sudden let-up in the rain the day before seemed to be nothing more than false hope, and the rain persisted again throughout the night, the wind even harsher than usual. Thank God they weren't caught up in the rain or else it would've meant the entire crew would have returned soaking wet coming through the door the night before. The rest of the GoM did in fact stay over. Apparently, judging from the size of their bags, they intended to stay over until Sunday—not that any of the five brothers minded, it's not like they particularly had anything to do anyway. So they welcomed the large group with open arms, Reo of course being especially excited because he loved all his younger cousins to death. The GoM slept in the guest room that night, Seijuro joining them as well, and they all slept relatively peacefully until Saturday morning.

It was Seijuro who woke up first. In fact, it would be better to say that he was woken up. Nuisance had wandered upstairs sometime between the time they had fallen asleep and the time he woke up. Noticing her owner was asleep, she decided that the right thing to do was to poke the side of his face with her paw until he woke up. He groaned and lazily pushed her paw away at first, but Nuisance, being as adamant as she is, didn't take no for an answer and hopped onto his chest. Seijuro clenched his teeth at the sudden weight put on his body as his eyelids fluttered.

"Heavy…" he moaned. His eyes slowly opened, and he blinked in bewilderment to see his cat sitting comfortably on top of him. He gave her a small, sleepy smile and stroked her fur.

"Well, well, if it isn't the little troublemaker." he mused. She meowed in response and closed her eyes as she leaned into his touch. Hearing all the commotion, Tetsuya stirred out of sleep as well, his baby blue eyes resting on the sight of his redhead cousin and beloved pet.

"It seems Seijuro-kun is awake." he said. The boy in question turned to see Tetsuya sitting up and stretching.

"Ah, Tetsuya," he said "good morning. I see your bedhead is ridiculous as ever." Tetsuya put a hand on his blue locks, imagining what it probably looked like to his cousin; extremely tousled and sticking out at all ends most likely. But instead of reacting to that, Tetsuya just offered a small smile and chuckled.

"I should say the same for you, Seijuro-kun."

"Hmm?"

He mimicked Tetsuya's movements, putting a hand on his own locks and began running his fingers through it. How his hair could get so dangerously spiky after just eight hours of sleeping was beyond his comprehension. The way it stood up by itself sometimes could make people believe he was going Super Saiyan. His atrocity of a bedhead was always similar to Tetsuya's; he's been told that many times by his brothers and cousins on several occasions. He usually rarely saw his hair himself unless he walked into the bathroom. Reo would usually get to his hair before he could, flattening it down and brushing it thoroughly, not before taking a photo of course. 'For the album', he'd always say.

"I should probably fix that later." Seijuro mumbled as he removed his hand from his hair. He rose to his knees and looked at his cat with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"Nuisance, shall we give everyone a wake-up call?" The cat meowed in agreement, and followed her master's wishes, strolling over to the others in the room. First, she woke Ryouta up by stepping on his face, the model crying out in pain as she continued on which in turn woke Daiki up to tell him to shut up and Satsuki to hurl a pillow at Daiki _and_ Ryouta, telling them both to shut up. Nuisance then went over to Shōgo and latched her teeth onto a clump of his hair and pulled, making him writhe and scream for mercy.

"OW, OW, OW! MAKE IT STOP!" he shouted. The black feline paid him no mind and slinked over to Taiga, who was passed out next to Tetsuya. She jumped onto his chest and started pawing his face, making the Seirin ace's eyes shoot open in surprise. He was about to say something but was instantly silenced by Nuisance as she covered his mouth with her paw and then stepped off, jumping onto the bed to wake up her next targets. She walked over Daiki, who was already awake and rubbed her head into Atsushi's side, making him stir and blink tiredly at the cat. Instead of being irritated, he pet the cat instead.

"Good morning Neko-chin~" he drawled. Nuisance purred and then deviously looked at her last target, Shintarou, who was, somehow, still sleeping. She went over to his ear and meowed loudly until he awoke in confusion. Not seeing anything in front of him, he glanced to the side, to find the cat staring at him. That was all she needed to do to scare the poor boy, because he jumped out of bed with a start.

"UWAAAAAAAAH!"

The feline leaped off the bed and went back to Seijuro's side, purring in delight as he bent down and (silently) congratulated her for a job well done. Everyone else was merely staring at Shintarou for his sudden outburst.

"Oi, Shintarou what's your deal?" Daiki grumbled.

"Shintaroucchi, you're too loud." said Ryouta.

"Shintarou-kun, please keep your yelling to a minimum." Tetsuya commented. Seijuro gazed at the glasses-wearing boy innocently.

"Shintarou, is there something wrong?" he asked. Shintarou jabbed an incriminating finger at the cat, who was now grooming her paws.

"Of course something is wrong, nanodayo!" he cried. "I told you I dislike cats!"

"She was only trying to wake you up."

"I don't care! Control your cat, nanodayo!" Nuisance's ears drooped as if she understood every word he said and she mewled softly. Seijuro picked her up and shook his head as he looked over at the green-haired teenager.

"See what you've done, Shintarou. You've made her sad." he said with mock disapproval, grinning at the flustered look on his face. The other GoM joined in as well.

"Shintarou how could you say that to a poor cat?"

"Shintarou-kun, you're so cruel."

"Shin-chin is a bully~"

"Shut up all of you!" he growled through his teeth.

They all began snickering at him as he was ridiculed until a delicious aroma began seeping through the door. Taiga was the first one to react.

"I smell food." he observed. Daiki thwacked him across the head.

"No duh, stupid. Everyone can smell that."

"Eh? Sei-kun, could your brothers be making breakfast?" Satsuki inquired.

"It would appear so." the redhead answered. "Come on, let's all go to the kitchen."

Everyone agreed enthusiastically and trekked down the stairs, the mass of them moving into the kitchen where the four brothers and Shuuzo were. Chihiro turned around from the pan he was using to cook with on the stove and acknowledged his cousins and brother.

"Good morning everyone." he said in his usual nonchalant tone of voice.

"Good morning Chihiro~" they all greeted in unison, going on to greet the other occupants in the room in the same manner, with the exception of the many versions of their names they were given by some of the rainbow teenagers (referring to Seijuro, Ryouta, Satsuki and Atsushi) and the slow reluctance of Shōgo to even greet them in the first place, who eventually gave in when he saw Shuuzo giving him a death glare. Reo went over to them cheerfully, fawning over the large group as they appeared in the kitchen.

"Good morning!" he exclaimed happily as he took the time to pat each and every one of their heads. "Did you all sleep well?" Everyone dazedly nodded, still blinking away the last reminiscence of sleep from their eyes. Smiling at how cute their response was, Reo then began to fuss over Seijuro.

"Look at you, your hair is a mess again." he chided. He was just about to fix it when Tetsuya appeared next to Seijuro with that neutral expression on his face.

"Good morning, Reo-san." he said as he rubbed his eyes. Reo had to do a double-take to process the situation clearly. Tetsuya and Seijuro's hair looked exactly the same. It was amazing the way their hair looked every morning.

"Kyaaa~! Twins! You two look like twins!" Reo squealed as he took out his phone and snapped a photo. He looked at it on his screen before deeming it satisfactory and put the electronic device back in his pocket. Only then did he walk back to the two to flatten their tresses properly and usher everyone to the living room, stating that breakfast will be ready soon and that they should wait a bit. Tetsuya and Taiga volunteered to help out which Reo graciously accepted. Satsuki wanted to help as well but everyone blanched at the offer, the group of cousins being well aware of how inhumanly indigestible her so-called 'cooking' was and so Daiki held her back while the other two went into the kitchen with Reo, the black-haired teenager beckoning to Seijuro as well, saying something about wanting to check his temperature today.

"Sei-chan, open your mouth. Say ah~." Seijuro more or less complied with his older brothers wishes, opening his mouth so Reo could insert the digital thermometer inside. Another forty-five seconds passed and the thermometer beeped to signify its job was completed. Reo took the thermometer and read it with a satisfied look on his face.

"37.2 degrees." he said in relief. "Sei-chan's fever is gone, everyone." Everyone sighed in relief as well, all apparently concerned for the youngest brother as Chihiro nodded approvingly.

"Good." he said. "At least your fever has finally run its course."

"Sei must be feeling a lot better!" Kotarou said excitedly as he walked past the boy and clapped his back. Eikichi voiced his agreement through a mouthful of food, most of the words being indecipherable until he swallowed.

"Just don't go wandering around in the rain, ya hear chibi?" Seijuro nodded.

"Yes, I know." Shuuzo flicked him on the forehead playfully before clasping a hand on his shoulder.

"Baaaaka~. We know you know," Shuuzo said in a matter-of-fact tone "just try not to make your brothers worry. Okay?" He then moved his hand to ruffle Seijuro's hair and flashed him a grin. Seijuro stared at his eldest cousin for a moment before smiling gently, allowing himself to close his eyes and indulge in the affectionate action.

"Okay, I'll be more careful."

~O~

After a rowdy breakfast to say in the least, the thirteen of them all helped with the cleaning of the kitchen (it took various bribes with snacks to make Atsushi help and various threats to make Daiki and Shōgo join). After the last chair was pushed in and the last dish was put back in the cupboard, the large group switched on the TV and began watching a basketball game on TV. They were all basketball idiots, so watching games on the weekend was something they unconsciously did. Taiga and Daiki especially. The GoM's dreams to become players in Japan's national team or even the NBA never faded, after all. If the others would continue basketball, who knows? But at the very least, doing something like watching a basketball game with everyone was always, is always, and will always be a favourite pastime.

"Woah! See how fast Lebron is!" Daiki pointed out as he watched the famous NBA player charge down the court. Taiga was pretty excited as well.

"I want to be able to play like he can!" he said in awe as he watched the power forward blow past two guys with an incredible drive and cross over, jumping up high and slamming the ball through the hoop. The entire living room watched on as the Cleveland Cavaliers team score went up by two points. It was the fourth quarter, with fifteen seconds left. They were at neck and neck with the other team, just one point ahead and the thirteen of them kept their eyes on the screen intently as the crowd on the television shouted 'Defence! Defence!' Ten seconds left, Th other team had the ball now, attempting to drive past the players on the opposite side, but Lebron wasn't letting them trough, keeping his eyes on his mark, the ace of their team, who incidentally had possession of the ball. The ace faked right and made a beeline for the basket. Five seconds left. He faked a jump shot, then went under the player blocking him and shot. Everyone watched in anticipation as the ball made its way towards the hoop, no one knowing if he would make it or miss. Four seconds. Three. Two. One. Just as they were about to receive an answer to their questions, the TV screen shut off abruptly, along with all the lights, leaving the group of cousins in complete darkness.

…What the hell just happened?

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 **I hope this chapter was good. I really started writing it today so I put in some overtime for this one after being inspired last minute. But yeah. I'll upload soon. Read and review please!**


	10. The ghastly power trip

**It's four a.m., I'm tired af, and I'm going to bed after I upload this. Sorry for being gone for so long. Hope you had a lovely Christmas! I was gonna upload on the 20th, you know, it being Akashi's birthday and all, but I fell sick for three days and in my attempt to finish the chapter, I got caught up in all these unplanned outings so I just don't know what happened. But, I am back now and I hope you enjoy this. I have not reread it at all. Prepare for any spelling or grammatical errors I might have made. Enjoy!**

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A ghastly power trip

The house was in complete darkness after the lights had suddenly cut along with the TV and the thirteen cousins just sat in the living room, completely baffled.

"What happened to the light?" Taiga asked from somewhere in the pitch black.

"Well, it seems there's been a power outage." Chihiro said thoughtfully. "Perhaps the wind was too strong. Just stay calm, everyone. Reo, go get some candles from the kitchen."

"I'm on it!"

"Hey Satsuki, there something touching your shoulder!"

"Kyaaa! Dai-chan, cut it out! Tetsu-kun come protect me!"

"No way! Tetsuyacchi is going to protect _me_!"

"Ryouta-kun, please stay away from me."

"So mean-ssu!"

"Be quiet, nodayo. All of you are too loud."

Reo came back into the room with five candles and a lighter. He set them in the centre of the coffee table and switched on the light, bringing the small flame to each one of the candle wicks, holding it there until every candle was lighted. A warm hue of light began to envelop the living room as everyone came into view, their shadows cast upon the walls.

"There! That's better." Reo said with a satisfied look on his face. He went to go sit down with everyone else as the group looked at each other expectantly.

"Well the damn power is out, so what now?" Shōgo grumbled. Instead of knocking him over the head for his opinion like Shuuzo usually did, he held himself back this time. Shōgo actually brought up a good point. What now?

"Well, to be honest, there's not really much for us to do." Seijuro said. "I would've suggested going outside but…" he paused to stare outside at the shower of rain crashing up against the house. "Well, you know why we can't do that now." Chihiro crossed his arms and looked out at the pouring rain through the window.

"In a situation like this, I hope _it_ doesn't come out." Everyone stared at him in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Kotarou asked.

"You know, it. That thing that comes out during power outages." Taiga froze.

"Thing?" he said. "What thing?" Chihiro leaned closer, looking like he was about to reveal the biggest secret in the world.

"No one knows what it looks like." he said, his tone just barely above a whisper. "It takes the form of someone you know and lures you into dark and quiet places. One could even say it was a monster."

"A m-m-monster? W-What are you t-talking about?! There's n-no such thing!" the Seirin ace stuttered. He didn't sound convincing at all, tripping over almost every single word that came out of his mouth.

"Of course there's such thing," Chihiro retorted "I've seen it myself."

"For real?!"

"For real."

The three uncrowned kings sweat-dropped as they stared at their older brother. _So he's resorted to telling scary stories_ , is the thought that probably passed through their heads. Well, they couldn't blame him, Taiga, the poor cinnamon roll, was always so gullible when it came to things like this, or anything for that matter. You could tell him that basketballs are grown in a pumpkin patch and he'd probably believe it. His gullibility always made it more fun to mess with him, after all. Although, despite Taiga being one of the most petrified out of all of them, looking to the others proved that they were just as enticed by Chihiro's story as Taiga was.

"There was this time I was home alone, and the other four had gone out," he recalled. "I was sitting by myself in the living room and I was reading a light novel, like I always do during my free time. It was raining pretty hard on that day too; just like today. As soon as I went into the bathroom, suddenly, the power went out." The group listened intently as the story progressed, all eyes on the grey-haired teenager as a calm seriousness washed over his face. Despite his grim expression, he internally smirked, knowing that he already has everyone's attention. It only made it easier…

"When the lights went out," he continued "I went to go to the kitchen to get some candles, but I couldn't find the lighter that we kept in the drawer. It was weird, since it never gets moved from there." Ryouta tilted his head slightly in curiosity.

"So what then?" he questioned. Chihiro proceeded with his tale.

"Well, I pondered my predicament for some time; that is until something took me by surprise. When I was about to look in the drawers for one more time, I heard a loud noise upstairs. It sounded like a door creaking open to me at the time but it could've been anything. So I decided to go upstairs to investigate. When I reach the top of the steps, I look out into the hallway and just as my eyes land on my door, it slams shut. Just before it closed though, I saw a silhouette of a person."

Seijuro stared at his older brother, incredulousness written all over his face.

"Who was the person?"

"It looked like you, Seijuro."

"M-Me…?"

"I was pretty taken aback; I was so sure I was the only one at home, and yet there you were at home and in my room. Not only that, but you were holding the lighter as well. So I wanted to ask you for it, since I hadn't lighted any candles. Although there was still something I found…unsettling about the situation…"

He paused, not for dramatic effect, but just to look around the room to see everyone else's reactions so far. Atsushi had stopped eating his snacks and merely stared at the storyteller, the pocky stick slowly sliding out from his half-ajar mouth; Shintarou was gripping his lucky item, which happened to be a ceramic elephant, unusually tight, his knuckles going white; Ryouta and Satsuki were petrified, hugging each other from fear; Daiki and Taiga looked deathly pale; Tetsuya's poker-face was faltering, even Shōgo was scared. The three uncrowned kings and Shuuzo, much less 'scared' than the younger ones, but still listening. He pushed on.

"So, I knew that I needed the lighter, so I was prepared to go into my room to retrieve it from him. I had this off feeling in the pit of my stomach that something wasn't right though. I still continued to go towards my door. I had just put my hand on the doorknob, about to twist it to go inside, when I hear the doorbell ring. So I go downstairs, open the door, and you know who's there?" The room was quiet as they waited for the answer to the rhetorical question. "It was the other four, Seijuro included." Out of all the people in the entire room, it was Taiga and Daiki who looked like they were about to faint. They were definitely the scaredy-cats of the group.

"W-W-What happened to the person in the bedroom?" Daiki stammered from behind Taiga. Chihiro shrugged.

"Dunno," he said "when I went back upstairs, the figure was gone and the lighter was back in place. It was probably the strangest thing that had ever happened to me. I don't know where the figure went that day…I bet it's still lurking around the house you know..." Shuuzo, quirked an eyebrow and exhaled something akin to a small chuckle.

"Oi, oi, I think you've freaked them out enough." he laughed "Isn't that right, Seijuro?" Seijuro wasn't even listening to him. He just clung to Shuuzo for his dear life, the fear quite apparent in his wide crimson eyes.

"Shuuzo-san, save me." he said quietly. The older cousin shook his head in exasperation.

"Not you too…"

Well, what was he to expect? He had heard that the redhead was scared beyond comprehension playing that video game that Kotarou went on about a few weeks ago, so it's not like he wasn't going to be afraid.

"Chihiro~ you're scaring the poor things half to death!" Reo scolded.

"It's not like it was real, Reo." That's what he said, but he never imagined himself to contradict his own ideas so soon. Because a loud noise was heard from around where Chihiro's room was. It sounded like a crash, and then the sound of a door opening. Everyone was on edge as they listened to the series of sounds. Chihiro blinked.

"Did…did anyone hear that?" A flurry of nodding heads was what he received. "Well, someone should go and investigate that." He wasn't surprised at all that no one dared to move. Well, it's looking for an alleged monster for Christ's sake; it's not like someone was gonna spring up from their seat and shout 'I volunteer as tribute!" He also wasn't surprised when all the eyes were on him, a silent statement that basically said, 'you're going'.

~O~

So send the man upstairs will they? Follow behind will they? They're a bunch of scaredy-cats, that's basically all they are. 'Right behind'? Yeah right. They were all cowering at the steps while they watched him wander with a flashlight in his hand.

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Just check to see where the noise came from." Reo said.

"Ugh, honestly…"

There was a bang that emanated off the walls and once again, Chihiro sourced the explosion back to his room. He walked towards the noise and motioned for everyone to follow, the group of the other twelve trailing closely behind. There were still noises coming from his room and frankly, he was getting very suspicious. Maybe it was a robber? They all held their breath as he opened the door, hearts in their throats, half-expecting something to pounce at them, but nothing did, yet. Instead, noises were heard deeper within the bedroom, the lights completely out, obviously. The GoM, uncrowned kings and the cousin to rule them all watched and waited as the flashlight nervously surveyed the area with caution. He walked further into the room and waited for something to happen. Then, footsteps. Footsteps within the room. They were someone else's. Everyone nearly had a heart attack as the footsteps approached Chihiro, fearing for his life.

"HOLY CRAP IT'S THE MONSTER!"

"SOMEBODY KILL IT!"

"WITH FIRE! KILL IT WITH FIRE!"

Chihiro was slightly off-guard but he stood his ground, waiting for the figure to reveal itself. Suddenly, it came into light. It was black, and small. Wait—hang on a sec…

"Nuisance?" Seijuro said. The cat confirmed her presence and meowed, padding over to Seijuro and rubbing her legs against his leg. He picked her up and stared down at her as he began to shake. Then, from the shaking, he emitted laughter, the kind of laughter you do after coming to a realization and realizing how stupid you were. Everyone looked at him and followed suit, the GoM laughing, then Uncrowned Kings and Shuuzo. They all laughed at the turn of events with such merriment, even Chihiro laughed. Well, some power outage this was.

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 **Okay I'm done. I plan to actually upload soon. I'll probably post two chapters by the year's end sooo yeah. Read and review please!**


	11. I dare you

**HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL! I would've finished this chapter yesterday but I was dragged into yet another outing and then I had to go to the midnight church service (which actually was pretty good so I'm not really complaining). Even though I didn't finish this when I wanted to, on the bright side, I bought a new 3DS game yesterday, which has nothing to do with my fanfic but whatever (It's a Zelda game, and I've never played one before, so I don't know what to expect.) Anyway, this chapter is so, so long. Again, I have no idea what I wrote, it just came out and now it's almost six thousand words. Oops. Also I apologize for any typos in advance so...yeah. Anyway, please enjoy!**

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I dare you

Sunday morning, a quiet morning indeed. This would be the last day that the five brothers would be hosting the many guests that have walked into their house since Thursday. What they were going to do on a day like this to conclude their visit?

"Anybody up for the King's game?" Kotarou said out of nowhere. Everyone was in the midst of lounging around in the living room like they had done the day before, just finishing up another basketball game they were watching on TV; thankfully the power had not gone out at the last second of the fourth quarter like before. Everyone's head rose in curiosity at the excited teen's suggestion.

"What brought that up?" Chihiro asked, resting his head in the palm of his hand. Kotarou shrugged his shoulders impassively.

"Dunno," he said after a moment of silence "I just feel like playing it."

"What are you talking about?" Shuuzo inquired from the other side of the couch.

"I want to play the King's game. Anyone up for it?"

"Sounds interesting," said Tetsuya "let's do it."

"Whaaat?! Do you remember how the last game ended?" Taiga shouted "I was covered head to toe in mud!"

"I had to wear a pink tutu out in public~." Atsushi said woefully.

"I ended up stuck in a tree for two hours, nanodayo. Taiga, Atsushi, you have no idea how badly it ended for me." Shintarou complained.

"How badly it ended for you?!" Daiki cried. "Shōgo and I nearly got taken into custody!"

"Well, it probably would have happened sooner or later in your life, nanodayo."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Actually I'd like to see how this game ends." Seijuro commented, looking particularly interested. He remembered how the last time they played he had to take responsibility for everyone post-game, having to first off buy Atsushi a treat as compensation for his embarrassment, hose Taiga down with water (with assistance from Tetsuya, Satsuki and Ryouta) to wash off the mud from his body, go to a nearby house and ask the occupants if he could kindly use their phone, only to have an amused conversation with the Fire Department, requesting them to come over and bring the glasses-wearing teen down from the considerably large tree, and finally having to convince the irritated police officer not to handcuff his cousins and that they didn't mean any harm. What a day that was. The victims of that event do not like discussing it anymore; they just refer to it as 'that day' now.

"I'm interested as well-ssu!" Ryouta exclaimed with excitement.

"I'm with Ryo-chan!" Satsuki added in. The two eldest of the group, Chihiro and Shuuzo, exchanged looks before shrugging as well. Why not? It was just a game after all.

"Alright fine, we'll play," said Shuuzo. "Chihiro, where are the sticks again?"

~O~

After searching the drawers, they eventually found the sticks they were looking for. Fourteen Popsicle sticks, to be precise. Thirteen of them had numbers written on them ranging from one to thirteen. The fourteenth stick had the word 'King' written on it. Whoever got that fateful stick had the authority to make anyone between one and thirteen do their bidding, regardless of how ridiculous, embarrassing or humiliating it was; no exceptions. The sticks were put face down into a mug and shuffled around. Once it had been shuffled, Shuuzo picked up the mug and held it out.

"Okay, everyone draw one."

Hands flew to the mug, some grabbing the first one they see, some pausing before taking one and then settling for another and some grabbing the same as another and fighting for it, one of them finally getting tired and relinquishing the stick, going for a different one instead. Once everyone had their sticks Shuuzo put the mug down.

"Now, we turn them over on the count of three. One…two…three!"

The sticks flipped over in hand and many disappointed expressions made themselves apparent on people's faces. Amongst the disappointment, Seijuro looked at his stick and smirked triumphantly.

"Well, well, it looks like I'm the King for the first round." he said, looking rather smug. Everyone shot a look at the redhead before sweat-dropping.

 _How unusually fitting,_ they all thought.

He stood in front of the large group and hummed in thought, the others pondering what ridiculous order his highness will give out.

"Let's see…my order will be for number two and number seven to draw on each other's faces." Okay, so he was gonna start out as being lenient; Thank God. Everyone looked to their sticks to figure out who the unlucky people were. Turns out, it was Shintarou and Daiki. The two scowled as they looked at each other.

"Of all the people in the world for God's sake." Daiki moaned. Shintarou huffed in annoyance as he pushed up his glasses.

"I refuse to have this man draw on my face, nanodayo. I am one hundred percent sure he'll draw something inappropriate or stupid."

"Sorry," Seijuro said unapologetically "King's orders. I am not going back on my words. Shintarou, Daiki, are you defying me?" There was a threatening air to that last statement so they just swallowed their pride and decided to get it over with.

They both got the pack of markers and faced each other, Daiki going first. He popped open the green marker and began by giving Shintarou a unibrow. Then he scribbled a moustache and used the red marker to give him some unsightly blemishes on his face. Next, he wrote 'Oha Asa addict' all the way down his nose in black and then, realizing he wasn't satisfied with just that, he wrote 'Tsundere' on one cheek and 'Megane freak' down the other. He was tempted to add on the usual penis that every hormonal teenage boy tends to draw every chance they get but he didn't want an early grave so he left it at that, looking pretty proud of his masterpiece. Everyone was trying so hard to stifle their laughter after looking at Shintarou's face but it was no use. The poor man had been violated, and he wasn't happy. He mentally reminded himself to kill Daiki later for doing this. At least now it was his turn. He used the blue marker to colour in his eyelids and a black marker to give him cat eyes. Then, he took the pink marker and scribbled it all over his cheeks before colouring his lips red. Once he was finished with that, he used the black marker again to put a beauty mark on his face and then wrote 'GANGURO' in big letters across his forehead. By the time Shintarou was done with him, everyone was on the floor in laughter.

"HAHAHA I'M IN TEARS!" Taiga yelled as he fell to the ground.

"Dai-chan really is a Ganguro!" Daiki growled at them.

"Shut up! It's not funny you guys!"

"That's what you get for defiling my face, nanodayo."

"Why you—"

"Daiki-kun, Shintarou-kun, please look this way."

The two turned around and flinched as they were blinded by a bright flash. They blinked and stared in horror at the digital camera in Tetsuya's hand, the phantom sixth man keeping his usual poker face.

"DAMN IT TETSU DON'T TAKE PHOTOS!"

"TETSUYA DELETE THAT PHOTO THIS INSTANT NANODAYO."

"No, I'm keeping it." He ran over to Seijuro and showed him the photo.

"Look Seijuro-kun, I got it."

"Well done, Tetsuya."

"Hahaha! Tetsuyacchi, send that photo to me, will ya?"

"But of course, I'm sending it to everyone."

"TETSUUUU!"

~O~

It was finally time to draw again, the sticks put back into the mug and shuffled. Everyone dove for a stick and pulled it out of the ceramic mug. Soon, the mug was empty and everyone was holding a stick each once again.

"One…two…three!"

Everyone flipped over their sticks and were surprised that the King was Ryouta.

"Hmm. What to do, what to do…" he said as he paced back and forth. After about five seconds of thinking he nodded to himself and turned around.

"Okay! Number one, six and ten have to say everything in rhymes until the game ends-ssu!" All eyes were cast towards the numbers. Well, it seemed like the victims of this order would be Taiga, Kotarou and Eikichi. All three of them frowned.

"That such a dumb rule!" Taiga shouted. Ryouta eyed him expectantly.

"In rhymes, you have to speak in rhymes, Taigacchi. In addition to that, every time you forget to, number five gets to whack you across the head."

"Heh? Well isn't that fortunate for me."

Taiga froze as he looked up at Shuuzo, who was incidentally holding the stick marked with the number five as he cracked his knuckles. He gulped. If he didn't agree with the terms, Shuuzo would kill him. He sighed in resignation.

"Fine I'll comply." he reluctantly said.

"Ahem…"

Taiga glared at Ryouta, who was standing there in anticipation, but he more or less caught the drift that he had to rhyme and mumbled "But I'd rather die." and turned the other way.

"Cool, I should try," said Kotarou "this game will be easy as pie! How was that for a rhyme right off the bat?"

"Woahhh Kotaroucchi that was amazing!"

"I bet I could do better since I'm such a go-getter." Eikichi said, testing out the new command he's been issued. Ryouta was applauding them.

"You guys are like pros! Bravo-ssu!"

~O~

"One…two…three!"

The sticks flipped again and everyone stared at the marking on the bottom, hoping that they were King this time around. But for round three, the only one to have that privilege was Tetsuya.

"Ah, it appears that I'm the King." he said complacently. "Number four and number nine have to wear each other's shirts until the end of the game." He looked up to find Seijuro and Shuuzo staring at their sticks in bewilderment and then looking up to stare at each other. Well, it seemed that the victims have been identified.

"I guess it can't be helped," Shuuzo sighed "King's orders."

"I suppose you're right." Seijuro agreed. He bowed playfully towards Tetsuya with a small grin. "As you wish, your majesty."

With that, they removed their shirts and switched them, Seijuro taking Shuuzo's and Shuuzo taking Seijuro's. Seijuro's was a black and red horizontally striped long-sleeved shirt and Shuuzo's was just a dark blue sweatshirt. When they put each other's clothes on, they looked at each other and snorted.

"I think my shirt might be a bit too tight for you, Shuuzo-san." Seijuro mused. Seijuro's shirt was way too small for him, just getting his head through the small hole proved challenging enough. The shirt didn't even cover his stomach and that area was left exposed, it was almost the equivalent of a crop top, except it was much smaller. If he were a girl and his father saw him like that, he'd tell him to go and change into something more appropriate.

As for Seijuro, he was the complete opposite, the sweatshirt Shuuzo was wearing was much larger than his usual size. The sweatshirt draped over his body, the sleeves so long that the ends were flopping around, Seijuro's hands were buried somewhere underneath. Getting his head through the hole deemed no problem, but the article of clothing tended to slide off his shoulders. The bottom of the sweatshirt went all the way down to the beginning of Seijuro's legs, stopping at the midway point of his thighs. _At least I got the more fortunate end of the situation_ , he thought. Although, in all honesty, they both looked ridiculous.

"So, I have to wear this the whole time? Even if we go outside mid-game?" Shuuzo asked. Tetsuya nodded.

"Yes. It is the King's orders."

"Ah geez."

~O~

"One…two…three!"

"Yes! Finally I'm King!" Taiga said, jumping for joy. Shuuzo whacked him upside the head.

"Owww! Shuuzo-san, what was that for?!" Shuuzo hit him again.

"Aren't you forgetting to do something, Taiga?" Nursing the growing bump on his head, the Seirin ace remembered he still has to rhyme his sentences and sighed.

"I'm sorry I forgot, but finding rhymes is harder than I thought." he mumbled, looking back to the stick labelled 'King' resting in his hands. He now has to think of not only a command to give out, but a rhyming word to add at the end. Finally, after almost a minute he came up with something.

"Whoever is number three, I would like you to come and see me." Ryouta nervously stepped forward.

"Yes Taigacchi?" Taiga grinned. Just the person he wanted. Now, for the command.

"Since you have decided to stoop so low, you have to slap yourself every time you hear the word 'go'." The small forward's mouth flew open.

"Ehhhh?! That's so unfair-ssu!" But Taiga wasn't finished yet.

"And if you ever forget to, someone else is allowed to do it for you."

"EHHH?! Taigacchi you're so mean!" He smirked.

"Is that so?" he said "Well I only have one word to say to that: go." Ryouta's eyes went wide at the realization as he reluctantly raised his arm up and slapped himself in the face. He winced at the pain, but knew he had absolutely no one to blame but himself. Note to self, don't make enemies in the King's game. This was going to be a long day.

~O~

"One…two…three!"

The sticks were flipped over and everyone examined the label on their own stick.

"Yay! I'm King now!" Satsuki cheered. After waiting for so long, she had already thought of what kind of command she would like to give and so she went right ahead with it.

"Number twelve has to refer to number one as 'my husbando' for the duration of the game~!" Everyone looked around to find the two who were involved with this order to find Reo staring at his stick in dismay. It appeared that he was number twelve. And as for number one…

"Oh for goodness sake." Reo complained. "You mean I have to call _him_ that?" The 'him' he was referring to was Eikichi and the muscular teenager merely grunted and stared right back.

"I wish it could've at least been someone else. Eikichi is the last person I want to say this for."

"Oh Reo-saaaan~"

"I meant to say…my husbando.

"That's better."

The game proceeded like this in the same fashion. All of these commands seemed normal, yes. But little did the group of cousins know how out of hand the game was going to get.

~O~

"Ah, it's my turn!" Eikichi shouted as he held up the stick. "I'm so fired up that I might burn!" he added quickly at the end of that statement before Shuuzo could get to him.

"Everyone here will have to make do, my order involves the entire crew." Everyone exchanged looks. It was rare that orders involved everyone so they were pretty confused. What was Eikichi planning?

"Well, I knew it was only a matter of time." Chihiro muttered. Atsushi was still munching on potato chips.

"What's the dare Eiki-chin?" he drawled before putting another chip into his mouth. Eikichi huffed out with confidence as he said his next, rhyming command.

"To the front door we shall stride, we're going outside."

The shopping centre was quite busy on this particular Sunday, everyone rushing to get groceries and other things as they took advantage of the sales that happen on this day. It was such an advantage to Eikichi, who in rhyming sentences, explained what they were to do in the shopping centre. Frankly, what he proposed was downright embarrassing and Chihiro wanted no part of it, he had to do the initiating of this whole dare which means he had to be the centre of attention first. But that was the whole point of the game, to humiliate yourself, and he had agreed to play it. It was severely out of character, but he'll amuse them just this once. So for today, he swallowed his pride like the rest of the victims and burst through the clear double door into the shopping centre.

"EVERYONE RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" he shouted, gaining the attention of all the people at the entrance. "THEY'RE COMING! IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THEY BURST THROUGH THE DOORS!" spectators were drawn to the scene, a few children pointing at the grey-haired teenager while the rest of the people watched in confusion. Chihiro went over to a woman and fell dramatically to his knees in front of her.

"I beg you, save yourselves." he said. "At this rate they'll probably come for you too!" The flustered woman who was standing in front of him stared at him wide-eyed before attempting to talk to him.

"Um, what are you talking about?" she asked hesitantly. He looked up at the woman with fear and panic in his eyes.

"They've come. The rainbow yakuza have come for us." Suddenly, the double doors flew open as the other thirteen fixed their gaze on Chihiro.

"Shuuzo-sama, we found him!" Seijuro said to Shuuzo, pointing to the highschooler.

"Then don't just stand there," Shuuzo growled "go capture him! Dead or alive!" The entire group of them chased after him and he picked up and ran off, everyone within the vicinity of them witnessing them run off into the shopping centre, whooping and hollering like a bunch of wild animals with Eikichi dying of laughter behind them.

"That was so embarrassing, I can't believe I went along with it." Chihiro muttered as he tried to force down the flaming blush on his cheeks.

"I can't believe you were so dramatic in there." Reo said, walking alongside him "But seriously, what was the deal with all that mess in the shopping centre, Eiki—I mean my husbando?" 'My husbando' held up his phone with a proud look on his face.

"I wanted to see a good show, which is why I captured it on video." he said rather smugly. Chihiro tried to snatch his phone away from him.

" _You did not._ " he hissed. Eikichi dodged his grab and put the phone back in his pocket.

"Even though your attitude is precarious, that act you put on was hilarious."

"My husbando, since when was your vocabulary ever this sophisticated?"

"I don't have the IQ points of a cup, so you should really just SHUT UP!"

~O~

The fourteen of them walked out of the shopping centre after that little performance, Chihiro insisting that they get out through a different exit because he didn't want to be seen by the people in front. In fact, a lot of them were embarrassed to go into the shopping centre considering the fact that Shuuzo was wearing a shirt at least three sizes too small, Seijuro wearing a shirt at least three sizes too big, and Daiki and Shintarou having their faces still covered in the facial equivalent of graffiti; not to mention when Shuuzo said 'go capture them', Ryouta still had to slap himself in public as they ran after Chihiro. It was when they were walking back home when they passed by the park and stopped for a bit.

"Hey, Shuuzo, do you still have the sticks with you?" Reo asked. The eldest cousin took them out of his pocket and held them out. He would've brought the mug but that would even be more embarrassing in public so he just stowed them away in the back pocket of his jeans for the time being. It was only in case someone wanted to do a dare outside the house, which they did, so it seemed that his predictions were correct. He shuffled them up and held them out face down, everyone grabbed a stick and waited for the signal.

"One…two…three!"

The sticks were flipped over yet again and this time, it was Daiki who was the King.

"Hehehe, about frickin time!" he said. "Now to figure out what to do…" he looked around the area of the park and saw the playground, the benches and the fountain next to them. Hmm…

"Aha!" he said suddenly "Number six has to go and bathe in the fountain."

Everyone looked down at their sticks and found that it was Satsuki this time who was the unlucky person. She crossed her arms and pouted her lips.

"Dai-chan you're so unreasonable!" she cried.

"Satsuki you say that as if I knew it would be you. And at least you don't look as crazy as me!"

"What do you mean?"

A boy and his mother walked past the group and pointed to Daiki.

"Mommy look, it's a Ganguro!"

"Sweetie come along, it's not nice to point."

Daiki watched them leave in shock as he made an extravagant gesture towards the two in the distance.

"See?! _That's_ what I mean! Count yourself lucky. Now, the fountain awaits you." Satsuki groaned as she took off her shoes, her socks, and the hoodie she was wearing.

"Ugh fine," she sighed "but you owe me big time for this one."

She walked over to the fountain and looked left and right to check if the coast was clear. Seeing that no one else was looking before plunging into the water. She was immediately soaked as she shivered under the spew of water.

"It's c-cold in here." she stammered. Daiki took out his phone and took a photo.

"Dai-chan!" she cried out in a scandalized tone of voice. He shrugged.

"What? It's just for blackmail, nothing personal." She was about to retaliate when she heard something croak. Looking next to her, a frog was sitting on the edge of the fountain and before she could even move, it jumped on her head. That was when she lost it.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA! GET IT OFF! DAI-CHAN GET IT OFF! TETSU-KUN HEEEEEEEELP!"

Daiki was laughing his ass off and rolling on the ground and it was indeed Tetsuya who had to shoo the frog away and help her out of the fountain. She wringed out her clothes where she stood and put her shoes and socks back on, her hoodie being the only article of clothing on her body that gave her warmth. She was _so_ gonna kill that Ganguro bastard later.

~O~

"One…two…three!"

Well this was a surprise, the King was Reo.

"Arara? How lucky." he said. "Okay, I've been holding in this order all day. Number seven and number eleven will walk up to someone's door and say what I tell you to say."

Unfortunately, the number seven and eleven were Shintarou and Atsushi. Shintarou was already bitter about having to walk up to someone's door with his face covered in marker and Atsushi was more on the lax side, saying something along the lines of 'how troublesome' or something like that. Either way, they needed to know the task at hand.

"And what are we saying, nanodayo?" Shintarou questioned. Reo merely just looked at them mischievously.

"Hehehe…"

"Hello, is there something I can help you with…?"

The man who answered the door sounded hesitant with is question as he took into account that a green-haired boy with marker all over his face holding a tennis ball (his lucky item) and a purple haired maiubo-eating titan were standing on his doorstep. Shintarou reluctantly spoke first.

"Uh, I really need a map because I've gotten lost in your eyes." he muttered. The man was completely taken aback.

"W-What did you say?"

 _This is ridiculous, this is absolutely ridiculous nanodayo,_ he thought. His face was already heating up before he even said anything but now he was on fire and thought he was going to explode. Not to mention he kept pushing up his glasses every ten milliseconds.

"Shin-chin, calm down. Your glasses will break."

"I am calm, nanodayo."

 _What the hell? Was I just HIT ON?_ The man at the door was thinking. Someone's throat was being cleared and his attention was directed to Atsushi.

"Out of all the candies in the world, you are the sweetest."

The poor guy blew a fuse. _I WAS BEING HIT ON! ARE THEY HOMOS? I DON'T EVEN SWING THAT WAY!_

The man wasn't even listening to them say anything else. By the second pickup line, the door opened a bit more and a dog was revealed. The dog merely looked at the ball in Shintarou's hand and grabbed it with its mouth before running off into the street with it.

"My lucky item!" he screamed "Get back here nanodayo!" He bolted down the stairs and ran after the dog, leaving everyone to die of laughter by the sidelines as the man silently closed the door, leaving no one but Atsushi on the doorstep.

"That was amazing!" Daiki laughed. He was still taking a video of Shintarou running after the dog. Atsushi wasn't even embarrassed at all. He just sighed while coming back down the stairs and put another stick of maiubo in his mouth.

"That was a pain." he said lazily.

"Oi you disobedient dog, come back here with my lucky item nanodayoooooo!"

~O~

After getting the tennis ball back from the dog and trying to salvage Shintarou's body from the ground (the dog wasn't all to happy that the tennis ball was taken and attacked the poor boy before running back to its owner's house), Shuuzo finally got out the sticks again.

"Okay, this is the last round, so whoever's King gets the opportunity to let this game go out with a bang. Let's draw."

Everyone grabbed their sticks and waited for the count.

"One…two…three!"

Everyone flipped over their sticks and looked at the labels to see who was King. Not Shintarou, not Seijuro, not Taiga, not Kotarou, so the King must be…

"Me. I'm the King."

Everyone gulped and looked up at the person who made the announcement. Well FRICK, it was Shuuzo.

"Well, I guess now I get to end this game with a good one." he said. A dark smile slipped across his face as he leered at the rest of the group. "I've been saving this one for ages, so now is the best time to use it. Number two, ten, and five have to hold hands yelling down the street in their underwear." Everyone frantically looked towards their sticks in fear, praying to God that they don't have to be the unlucky soul to do this dare. Fortunately the prayers were answered for ten of the people, the other three being Daiki, Shōgo and Tetsuya.

"Oh come on!" Daiki and Shōgo said in unison. Tetsuya merely looked at his stick and narrowed his eyes.

"Well, this is unfortunate."

The three boys stood in the middle of the sidewalk, hands intertwined. Tetsuya was standing in the middle while Daiki and Shōgo were on either side. All three were in their underwear. And of course, all three were being recorded right now.

"Heehee, Dai-chan say cheese!" Satsuki said as she took another picture. Daiki was already humiliated enough and now photos are being taken of him. And he _still_ had marker all over his face so not only was he in his underwear, but he looked like a Ganguro while doing it.

"Cut it out Satsuki!" he yelled, trying to cover his face. She pulled a wry smile.

"What? It's just for blackmail, nothing personal." Daiki glowered at the pink haired girl in annoyance. She just forced him to eat his own words, and man did they taste bitter.

"Daiki-kun, Shōgo-kun, let's just get this over with please." Tetsuya said, already irritated that he had to run through the streets with these two of all people. They gazed at the phantom sixth man and sighed. Well, the sooner they do it, the sooner they'll finish.

"So are you ready?" Daiki said nervously. Shōgo just pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Let's just get the damn thing over with!" They all took a deep breath and started making as much noise as they possibly could, running through the neighbourhood half-naked. It was quite a spectacle.

"HAHAHA! Shuuzocchi you're a genius!" Ryouta said in the midst of his cackling. Everyone else was laughing as well. Shuuzo puffed out his chest in pride.

"Of course I'm a genius!" he said "I'd pay good money to see these idiots running down the street with barely any clothes on. Oi, Seijuro, are you getting this on your phone?"

"I haven't missed a single second of the action." the redhead replied, zooming in on the half-dressed retreating figures in the distance.

"Excellent."

The remaining eleven stopped in their tracks as they heard people screaming in the direction the other three went in.

"Oh my God, those kids have no clothes on! And that dude looks like a Ganguro!"

"Oi! There are young children in this neighbourhood! Put some pants on!"

"What the hell are they doing?!"

"Hey! Stop right there you perverts!"

They all sweat-dropped as they listened to Daiki and Shōgo's terrified screams ring through the streets followed by the sound of a police siren. That wasn't good.

The police unfortunately caught up to them as they tried to escape. The policeman stepped out of the car and stood towering over them. He seemed peeved, like any police officer was. He scowled and crossed his arms.

"That's enough fun from you," he barked. "You think it's funny to run half-naked through the streets? You're disturbing the people in the neighbourhood. You two perverts might land yourselves in custody today." Daiki frowned.

"Two?" he said. "You mean _three_ of us."

"What on earth are you talking about?" the police officer asked impatiently "Clearly there are two of you standing here."

"What the hell are you going on about?" Shōgo sputtered as he began doing a head count. "There's obviously three of us if you're not blind. Me, Daiki and Tet—"

Daiki and Shōgo turned around and felt their hearts drop into their stomach as they realized what happened. Tetsuya used Misdirection. And it was super effective.

"GODDAMMIT TETSUUUUUUU!"

~O~

So all's well that almost ended well. Satsuki had to completely dry off her clothes that were soaked to the bone, Shintarou had to completely change his because the dog that attacked him tackled the Oha Asa addict to the ground outside and nearly ripped him to shreds and he also had to spend a considerable amount of time washing off the marker from his face. As for Daiki and Shōgo, Tetsuya used his Misdirection to avoid bumping into the authority but he also used that opportunity to go back to the house where everyone was waiting, stating in his usual deadpan voice that Seijuro should get his negotiating skills ready because he'd need to convince yet _another_ police officer from taking the two into custody. Seijuro also had to retrieve his actual shirt from Shuuzo before he left to talk to the officer and vice-versa. Ryouta's face was red with hand prints because on the way back to the house, everyone kept saying the word 'go' to mess with him so he must've slapped himself at least fifty times by then. Luckily, everyone else seemed relatively unharmed except for maybe Chihiro, who was still nursing his hurt for the loss of his dignity that he probably dropped somewhere in that shopping centre. By the time everyone was back, it was time to go.

"Well, we had a lot of fun at your house this weekend. Thank you very much for letting us stay, all of you." Tetsuya said happily to the five brothers. Reo smiled.

"It was no problem at all, Tetsu-chan. All of you should visit again sometime~!" he said to the rest of the GoM as they got their stuff together. Chihiro ushered everyone to the door and the other four stood behind him as everyone said their goodbyes. Shuuzo also grabbed his stuff as well, following the rainbow squad to the doorstep.

"I'll be taking my leave as well," he said "Thanks for the good time." Chihiro nodded.

"I suppose I should be thanking you; you did take care of Seijuro for two days, while we were out of the house." he responded, putting a hand on the redhead's shoulder.

"Ahhh it was nothing at all," he said, dismissing the words of gratitude "you don't need to thank me for anything." He looked down at Seijuro and patted his head. "Just don't do anything stupid like chasing cats in the rain before you get yourself sick again, ya hear?" The boy gave him an amused look before grinning slightly.

"Yes, Shuuzo-san."

"Okay," Shuuzo turned to the rest of the GoM and slung his bag over his shoulder. "I guess we'll be going. Take care, the five of you." The brothers waved back at the retreating group in the distance.

"You as well," said Chihiro "get home safely all of you. Call me when you return."

The nine of them waved back and said goodbye one last time before they were out of sight. Seijuro closed the door and just stood there for a moment.

"So, I guess they're gone now. It feels quite empty without all of them here now. Reo chuckled at his statement.

"What's this? Feeling lonely, are we?" Seijuro raised an eyebrow as he strolled over to the kitchen to fetch Nuisance's food dish.

"Not that much," he said "They'll come again some other time." He bent down and pet his cat when she slinked into the room as he smiled at the door in which they left from.

"I'll be waiting patiently."

* * *

 **Tada! Another chapter completed. I hope you all enjoyed that. I hope it was funny because that's what I aimed for it to be. I'll try and update soon, but until then, you know what to do...**

 **Read and review please!**


	12. Side-effects

**I PLANNED FOR THIS TO BE SO MUCH SHORTER WHY ON EARTH IS THIS NEARLY SEVEN THOUSAND WORDS? Hello I am back after New Years and ready to post some chapters. I flew into the UK on Monday so I'm sorry I couldn't update earlier but I was dealing with jet-lag and school work. My bad.**

 **And to 100percentcocoa OMG I LOVED YOUR REVIEW PLEASE DON'T APOLOGIZE FOR RAMBLING! That review literally made my day and I was ready to die of cuteness thank you _so_ much for taking the time out of your day to write such a long review I appreciate it a lot. And to the other two I'd like to thank you as well for your reviews that I saw the other day. I love you guys, seriously. **

**Anyway, this chapter was based on a writing prompt that I found. You know those 'Will you press the button' pictures you see online? Yeah, I saw this one and I knew then and there that I wanted to make a chapter on it. This is another chapter filled with nothing but fluff and I'm so sorry for this chapter I just, I don't even know what I wrote and it just came out on a document and oh my God please don't hate me for this I'm so sorry and now I know why Sakurai apologizes all the time like seriously I don't know what happened with this it's just so long and contains nothing but concentrated fluff oh gosh. FORGIVE ME FATHER FOR I HAVE SINNED. I hope you enjoy! *Runs away***

* * *

Side-effects

You can meet anyone dead or alive, real or imaginary BUT they become super clingy.

WILL YOU PRESS THE BUTTON?

Reo never thought he'd be faced with this question. A button placed right in front of him by a mysterious man on the street.

"You can choose to either press the button, or walk away; the choice is yours." the man said.

Well, it's not like Reo believed much in magic anyway, but let's say he were to press the button. Who would he choose? Thinking about it logically, in order for the drawback to be turned into a loophole kind of advantage, he'd obviously need to pick someone who he likes being close to, regardless of the situation. He could just imagine how much bliss he would be in, knowing that his favourite person would never want to leave his side. Maybe that wasn't so bad. Especially if that person was…

 _Hah, if only…_ Reo mused. It wasn't possible. It'd take a freaking miracle for that to happen. He could only dream. You know what, why not press it? Literally what did Reo have to lose? Not much really. Besides, he didn't believe anything would happen when he pressed it, so when he pushed the button so casually, the mysterious man blinked.

"You can't go back now," he said. "The effects wear off in twenty-four hours. Good luck to you." Reo waved to him as he walked down the street to his house.

"I'll keep that in mind." Reo said. Soon, he was out of sight.

Arriving back at home, he unlocked the door with his house key and twisted the handle open. Chihiro, Eikichi and Kotarou were in and around the living room. As expected, nothing out of the ordinary happened. He laughed to himself.

 _Honestly, what did I think was going to happen,_ he thought. _I'm sure that the man in the street was just joking about the whole thing._

"I'm home~" Reo announced as he took off his shoes and dropped his bag at the entrance. Three heads swivelled to the door and spotted Reo coming through. They all greeted the teenager.

"Ah, welcome home, Reo." Chihiro said.

"Yo, Reo."

"Hi Reo-nee!"

"Hello everyone." Reo said. He looked around, and saw that one person was missing.

"Ara? Where's Sei-chan?" Kotarou shrugged, making a vague gesture upstairs.

"I think he said something about going to change or something." Reo was about to reply when he heard footsteps sprinting down the stairs. Seijuro, changed into his casual clothes, sped into the living room and halted a few feet away, standing directly in front of Reo, panting as he came to a stop.

"Reo-nii-san!" he exclaimed with an air of excitement. No, Reo imagined it to be less of an air and more of a large gust of wind. In fact, Reo had never in his life heard Seijuro call his name so enthusiastically before. Was Seijuro waiting for him?

Before the black-haired teenager could say anything, Seijuro darted forward and practically threw himself onto Reo, hugging him happily. Reo was so taken aback, he was frozen in place, just about ready to blow a fuse.

"S-Sei-chan?!" he stammered.

"Welcome back. I missed you, Reo-nii-san." he said as he clung to his older brother.

Okay, there's _no_ way Seijuro is this affectionate. Endearing, yes. But openly showing his raw emotions like this? That wasn't the Sei-chan Reo knew. Yes, but, _but_ , Seijuro was hugging him—clinging to him, even. On a scale of one to ten on the kawaii metre, this definitely scores a whopping infinity. This must be a dream. Reo was trembling all over when he came back to reality with Seijuro still hugging him. Nope this was definitely real. Reo wrapped his arms around him and returned the hug.

"I...I missed you too, Sei-chan…?" he said with some uncertainty, still reeling from shock. Reo was internally screaming at how cute Seijuro was being right now. He's so adorable like this that Reo had to pinch himself to make sure he really wasn't dreaming. The only reason he could be acting like that is if he was under some spell. Like someone had just pressed a button and...oh...a button.

 _Oh yeah,_ he thought, _so it actually worked._ The person he thought of was Seijuro, typical Reo. He only pressed the button because he wanted to see Seijuro super clingy, which was really odd if you think about it. That's about the same as taking medication to experience the side-effects.

The other three brothers merely stared at Seijuro like he had two heads. This was very unlike him, very unlike him indeed. Seijuro running up and hugging someone like that? Since when did he ever tell someone that he misses them? This must be some other kid. Whose brother was this? Eventually, Seijuro released his grip and stood in front of him. Reo was still left in surprise.

"Um...Sei-chan, did anything happen today that you're like this?" The boy shook his head.

"No, I just suddenly missed Reo-nii-san, that's all." Reo definitely felt his face heat up. What kind of foul play was this? If Seijuro was any more of an angel than he was being at the moment then it was only a matter of time before—

"Reo-nii-san, your nose is bleeding!"

"Huh?"

Too late.

Well, he didn't care. He was too busy assessing this predicament in his head. If his prediction is correct and the button did in fact work, that means that Seijuro will be like this for a good twenty-four hours. Maybe he could live with that. Droplets of red plopped down onto his hand. He looked down at it with a blank face. He really should take care of his nose bleed.

"Ah, I'll go get a tissue." he said in response to Seijuro's statement. The redhead looked up at him.

"I'll go get it for you and clean the blood off your face." Reo sputtered as more blood spurt out of his nose.

"Oh goodness I think it'll get worse if you do that. Don't worry, I'll get it."

"Then I'll come with you!"

"O-Of course."

Reo bit down on his hand as Seijuro held onto his arm and accompanied him to the bathroom.

 _HE'S SO CUTE!_

~O~

After coming home, Seijuro wanted to go everywhere with Reo. When Reo sat down to watch TV, he was sitting on the couch next to him. When he went to help with dinner, Seijuro went to help as well. And when the five brothers sat down, Seijuro sat in the chair beside him.

"I want to sit next to Reo-nii-san." he decided. From the tone of his voice, he wasn't taking no for an answer. Reo was in la-la-land right now so it was no surprise he willingly agreed, welcoming his younger brother. The other three were beyond confused, Chihiro especially. He eyed the youngest brother with suspicion and put a hand on his forehead.

"Seijuro, are you okay? You don't have a fever again do you?" Seijuro shook his head with vigour.

"I'm fine." he said. "Why would I be sick?" The three stared at him.

"Are you sure Sei?"

"Yes."

"Oi, chibi, you on drugs or something?"

"Eikichi, don't say something like that!" Reo exclaimed as he whacked him over the head. But then Reo paused for a second before proceeding to cover Seijuro's ears.

"Actually, it's something like that." Reo whispered to the other three. They all fell silent as they processed this.

"Reo, are you implying that you drugged our brother?" Chihiro deadpanned.

"Of course not!" Reo hissed. "Some man on the street showed me a button. He said if I pressed it, I can meet anyone dead or alive, real or imaginary. The side effects were that this person becomes super clingy. I didn't think anything would happen if I pressed it, I thought it was just a joke."

"So you didn't even consider what would happen if it actually worked?"

"Ehehehe...I forgot too."

"Oi, what do you mean you forgot?" Eikichi grunted.

"Well when I thought of Sei-chan being super clingy and adorable it sort of went downhill from there…"

"Typical, Reo."

"Reo-nee, how long is he gonna be like this?"

"Till tomorrow is what the man said."

"Tomorrow?" Chihiro repeated.

Well, as long as they didn't get into trouble that was fine with him. He didn't know what on earth possessed the black-haired teenager to press the button, but now, Seijuro was _Reo's_ problem now. Putting the weight on the younger brother's shoulders was technically breaking one of the many rules he signed up to follow as the eldest sibling, but one thing older brothers should teach their younger siblings is to handle responsibility; so what better way to test Reo out than with a real life situation? Not that he wasn't responsible sometimes. In fact, Reo's probably the only one he could trust within the immediate family to take care of Seijuro. He had lost his trust with the other two that one time Eikichi tried to cook and immediately after eating one bite Seijuro slumped forward and passed out (he swore that Eikichi's cooking was just as bad as Satsuki's) or that other time where Kotarou tried to teach Seijuro how to skateboard and the poor redhead came home with cuts all over his arms and legs, trembling slightly from the recoil of pain (Chihiro must have used up all the plasters and disinfectant in the house trying to treat his wounds). If Reo can keep Seijuro out of trouble for just a day, he'll probably gain some newfound respect for the man. I mean, Chihiro himself barely liked communicating with others sometimes, so he could only imagine the living hell of having someone being super clingy for twenty-four straight hours. Nuh-uh. That was something he could definitely not handle. This may be a very peculiar issue, but he gives props to Reo for handling it so well at this point in time. Chihiro sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Okay, I'm entrusting him to you," said Chihiro. "Just...just keep an eye on him, Reo."

"Roger that~"

"Reo-nii-san, what are you doing?" Reo looked down and retracted his hands from Seijuro's ears before clearing his throat.

"Ah, it was nothing," he said "it was, uh, grown-up stuff."

"Reo-nee he's not five anymore."

"Hush Kotarou!"

"Reo-nii-san, what is he talking about?"

"Nothing!" He gave a death glare to Kotarou. "Isn't that right?" Kotarou gulped and nodded before going back to his food. When they finished, Reo stood up from the table and cleared away his plate.

"Thank you for the food. I'm going to go do some work."

"Reo-nii-san, let me come with you." Reo looked over at Seijuro, who had just finished as well, coming back from washing his plate.

"Eh? Sei-chan don't you have work?"

"Do it with me."

"You never need help with your homework." He saw Seijuro squash his face into a pout and scowl at him. Oh gosh, he was making 'the face' again. That slight protrusion of the lips, the folded arms, the slightly crestfallen look on his face, Reo has seen it many times before. This even works on Shuuzo; so for someone like Reo, who was especially indulgent with Seijuro, he was taken in an instant.

"Sei-chan you're so cuuuuute!" he screamed as he hugged the boy. "Come to my room, let's do homework together!"

"Okay."

The three brothers looked on as the two exited the table and went upstairs with their school bags, Reo looking particularly happy. Chihiro shook his head as some form of pity for the black-haired teenager.

"May God have mercy on his delusional soul."

~O~

Just as planned, Reo and Seijuro did their homework in his room. Seijuro finished his way too quickly, as per usual, since nothing academic ever posed a problem for him, and was insistent on helping Reo with his.

"Sei-chan, are you sure? My work is pretty boring."

"If I help you with your work then you'll be done with it faster so I can spend more time with you." Oooh! Right in the heart!

Reo's mind was literally in shambles at the moment. Seijuro was going to be the death of him if he kept this up. Such a nice feeling it is when your younger brother just wants to be around you. Reo decided that he was going to enjoy every last minute of this. He's got about a day and a half left.

Reo submitted to his request and allowed Seijuro to assist him with his work. It was literature, and the assignment was to read a passage and extract any quotes that have to do with the protagonist's feelings. It wouldn't be so tedious if this so-called 'passage' wasn't about fifty pages of pure boredom. Oh the pain. Nevertheless, Seijuro asked him to read it to him so they could analyse it together. Reo read through it piece by piece, stopping at every five pages or so to go into discussion. While he read to him, Seijuro put his head on his brother's shoulder and closed his eyes as he listened to him with utmost intent. Every once in a while, Reo would take note of something and then push on. It went on like this for almost an hour and a half, Reo continuing to read on, and Seijuro continuing to listen. After the last bit was read, the older brother kept his gaze on the novel and flipped back through the pages.

"Okay, so what did you think of that, Sei-chan?" His question was met with silence.

"Sei-chan?"

He put his novel down and eyed his brother next to him, surprised to see that he had fallen asleep. It took all that Reo had not to squeal like a total fanboy right now. Okay, deep breaths, deep breaths now. Ah, but he mustn't forget to take a photo. Reo thanked the heavens that his phone was on his study desk so he wouldn't have to move much. He quickly snapped a shot of his brother, mentally noting to print it out later for the album, before deciding he should use this opportunity to take a bath while he was deep in slumber. Reo gently set his head on the study desk and tiptoed out of the room with his towel and pyjamas, silently shutting the door behind him. He was in there for maybe thirty minutes, spending twenty minutes in the bath and devoting ten to changing into his pyjamas after drying off. When he stepped out of the bathroom, he went into his bedroom and opened the door exceptionally quiet, expecting Seijuro to still be asleep. Instead, Seijuro is sitting upright on the chair next to the study desk, hugging his knees and looking like he was, what Reo imagined to be, on the verge of crying. Tears threatened to stream down his face, the droplets dangerously close to spilling from his eyes. He ran over to Seijuro and knelt down next to him.

"Sei-chan, what's wrong?" he asked, concerned for the reason why his younger brother could be so disquieted. Seijuro's mouth twisted slightly as he tried to hold back his emotions and he took a deep breath.

"You left me here by myself." he mumbled, his gaze cast to the floor. It seemed like he was mad but the tears in his eyes said otherwise; it was quite unclear whether he was angry or sad, so it was decided that he was malcontent, a mix between the two. Well, Reo didn't expect his heart to be ripped out of his body just now and metaphorically shoved into a paper shredder, but it was, and he had never felt guiltier in weeks. He wasn't even expecting him to be awake. He thought he could quickly finish his bath before Seijuro even knew he was gone. Even if he did wake up, Reo thought that at most, he'd just get annoyed. Never did he think he'd cry about it. He began to pat head, running his hand through his red locks.

"I'm sorry, Sei-chan. I didn't mean to upset you. I only went to take my bath. I was just gone for a little while," he said, slightly amused, trying to console his younger brother for, what would seem to be, a completely trivial problem. The redhead made a sound almost like a whimper but not quite. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to feel how nice Reo's hands felt through his hair.

"Then will you stay with me?" Reo smiled that warm comforting smile he always had on his face when consoling his younger brother as he put a hand on his shoulder.

"Of course." he said. _Sei-chan is too adorable right now. I might die._

~O~

So, for the rest of the night, Seijuro did not leave Reo's room. He was exceptionally clingy, just like the man in the street said he would be. The only time he left was when he had to take a bath and since Reo already took a bath, it's not like he could go with him (the thought of that nearly made his nose bleed again so he was gonna pass up the offer anyway). But after he was done he came back in and asked Reo if he could dry his hair for him. That was also another first. Of course, it was usual that Reo dried his hair for him, but Seijuro never voluntarily asked. He let Reo do it because he knew Reo wanted to. It was never the other way around, since Seijuro, being a fourteen year old teenager, was more than capable of doing things himself. Reo gladly granted his request either way. After that, the two cleared all of their books off the table. Reo took his own and Seijuro took his own and they separated to go and return the books back to their respective bags which were in their rooms, also taking the time to prepare for tomorrow. By the time, everything was said and done, it was nearing ten-thirty at night and a sudden wave of exhaustion washed over Reo as he fixed up his room.

"I'm so tired…" he yawned, a low whine escaping his mouth as he reached his arms up in the air and stretched. He wasn't sure what made him so sleepy today, but all he felt like doing was going to bed. With that in mind, he slipped under his covers and switched off the light that resided on his bedside table, turning over and closing his eyes, allowing his body to fully relax as he slept. Or so he thought.

Twenty minutes or so after he had switched the light off, the door to his room opens and in comes an entourage of footsteps, stomping rather angrily across the floor of his bedroom, making their way to the edge of the bed. Trying to ignore it and convince himself that his was a dream, Reo remained motionless, hoping that whichever one of the brothers had decided to bother him at such a bad time, be it Chihiro, Kotarou or Eikichi, would realize their mistake and leave, but the sound of footsteps leaving the room was never heard. As soon as they approached the bed, they stopping coming, and hands went to roughly shake the black-haired teenager back into reality instead, earning a pitiful moan from the occupant of the room.

"Who is it?" he mumbled, still refusing to open his eyes. A huff of annoyance came out in reply and instead of answering him properly, a hand travelled down to the bedside table and flicked on the light, making Reo's eyelids twitch in agitation. Eventually, Reo opened his eyes and found Seijuro kneeling on the bed in his pyjamas, folding his arms as he looked at his older brother, disapproval written all over his face. Reo blinked. Did he do something wrong?

"Sei-chan?" Reo said questioningly "Is everything alright? You didn't have another nightmare, did you?" His younger brother's scowl only deepened.

"Of course not," he responded. "What I should be asking is why you went to bed without me!" Reo was way too tired to understand what he was saying.

"…I don't follow."

"How could you not? I made it very clear. I wanted to sleep next to you tonight."

Oh. That's what he was talking about… Wait WHAT?

"Sei-chan, what did you just say?"

"I said I wanted to sleep next to Reo-nii-san tonight."

Okay, okay, so he wasn't deaf or anything. Seijuro actually said he wanted to sleep with him. But again, Seijuro _never_ asks on his own. Even that time where he actually was having nightmares, Reo still had to ask the traumatized boy if he would like to sleep in his room that night, in which he still answered like a total tsundere, making Reo think that perhaps Seijuro was hanging around Shintarou for too long. Never does Seijuro make his feelings so blatantly obvious with this 'short, sweet and to the point' business; that was something only Tetsuya would do. There was no doubt. So this were the true powers of side-effects. If this were any other person barging into his room, he probably would've sent them out with a death threat most likely for interrupting his beauty sleep. But since it was Seijuro, Reo didn't mind at all. In fact, he was more than happy to scoot over and make room for the redhead, patting the vacant space to signal him to lie down.

"That's absolutely fine with me, Sei-chan!" he said, enjoying this temporarily reformed Seijuro. "Of course you can sleep here." Seijuro perked up and a satisfied smile slipped across his face.

"I wasn't taking no for an answer." Seijuro said, his tone of voice sounding particularly deciding. Either way, he got under the covers as well, turning off the light and cuddling closer to Reo, his arms curling around the larger mass that was his older brother. Again, Reo was taken aback.

"…Sei-chan?" he said. The call of his brother's name sounded kind of rhetorical and wasn't really expected to be answered. And it wasn't. Instead, Seijuro shifted closer and sighed contentedly.

"Reo-nii-san is very warm," he said quietly. "It feels nice." Reo paused and then secretly smiled, feeling his heart swell at least two times its size. These displays of affection were just too much, especially this. Yes, during the night, Seijuro constantly feels the need to latch onto something, it was always a habit of his, which is why Reo is usually accustomed to this physical contact…when he's asleep, that is. Reo noticed over time that every night where Seijuro is sleeping next to him and clings to him, it's always when the redhead is long asleep, already entering his deepest stages of slumber. Meaning, those actions are involuntary and unconscious. But just now, Seijuro did it while awake, immediately after getting into bed, in fact. That means that it was a conscious decision, something Seijuro decided on his own, and that was more than enough to make Reo smile like a complete idiot; well, mentally at least. Reo was really enjoying the side-effects now, thinking how he really should go back to that man and thank him when he got the chance. His arms encircled Seijuro and he chuckled lightly when his younger brother held on to him a bit tighter, like he usually did when he was asleep. Seijuro was so much more expressive now. His face was easier to read than a picture book. From one look, anyone could tell that he looked extremely comfortable just lying there in his arms. Reo gazed at him fondly before he closed his eyes once more before he went to absent-mindedly playing with his hair, the smaller boy indulging in the touch as he nuzzled closer and let out what almost sounded like a purr of happiness. As usual, his cat-like resemblance was uncanny.

"You sound just like Nuisance, you know?" Reo mused. Seijuro merely hummed and buried his face into his brother's shirt.

"I may sound like a cat, but I'm the only one you should be petting tonight." he muffled, sounding a bit possessive over his older brother. Reo just shook his head in amusement and stroked his back.

"Come on, sleep now."

Seijuro did begin to feel drowsy then. There was something about cuddling that relaxes one so much that they fall asleep. Today was no exception, and Seijuro's eyes began drooping slowly. After five minutes, he fell asleep, looking relatively satisfied as he continued to latch onto his older brother. Reo followed his soon after and then both were in dreamland, enjoying each other's company as they dozed peacefully till morning.

~O~

Reo awoke in the morning to his alarm clock going off on the bedside table. He sat up in bed instantly, reaching over and switching it off, extending his limbs and stretching his body out. He heaved a sigh and looked down to see Seijuro in bed still. He shook his head before moving his hand down to the redhead's shoulder and gently shook him.

"Sei-chan," he said "it's time to wake up for school." Seijuro moaned and rolled over.

"Don't want to," he grumbled. "I want to stay in bed."

"So do I," Reo agreed. "But we're gonna be late if we lie here." Seijuro still didn't want to get up. What he did instead was wrap his arms around Reo's waist to hold him still.

"Stay." he said. Reo blinked. What was he doing?

"Um, Sei-chan, we need to get up now."

"No, I want you to stay with me here." he whined.

"Sei-chan it's not that bad, just get up."

"Noooo"

"Sei-chan—"

"Noooooooo"

"Sei—"

"NOOOOOOOOO"

Oh for goodness sake.

It's no shock to Reo that Seijuro is weak to mornings; that was no surprise at all. What with his low blood pressure and all, mornings just weren't a happy time for Seijuro unless he wakes up on his own accord. On weekday mornings, he was usually half-dead and in his own world until he reached the kitchen table. Any time before breakfast wasn't a good time to talk to him. But even so, as Reo sat in bed while Seijuro clung to him, this was all a bit, what was the word…ah, excessive.

"I'll tell you what," Reo compromised "if you get up now, I'll walk you to your class today." Immediately, the redhead released his grip and shot up like a bullet.

"Well if you said that earlier, I would've gotten up ages ago." he said. His face looked like it was bursting with life and Reo narrowed his eyes in confusion, wondering where all the sudden energy came from in less than two seconds. Seijuro hopped off the bed and ran excitedly to his room to put on his uniform, leaving Reo on the bed to wonder how the day was going to pan out with this little predicament on his hands. Wait, a predicament? Never once since yesterday did he classify it as a predicament. Could it be…?

"Sei-chan might be too clingy?" he asked himself. Was that even an option? He didn't think that last night, when he was just gawking at how adorable Seijuro was, but now that he foresaw what he would be like until the end of the day, he was beginning to question his decision in pressing the fateful button that made him this way, as he dressed and got ready for school. What would he even be like in school? Would he stop paying attention in class because he would be too busy thinking of his older brother? Or would he be miserable from separation to the point that he'd cry again and make a terrible scene in front of his classmates? Thoughts like these were something Reo hadn't bothered to consider. Before he had time to divulge on the topic further, his thoughts were interrupted by Seijuro bursting through the door.

"I'm ready." he announced. Reo nodded and walked with him to the door, pausing only once to turn to his brother and smooth his hair down, before exiting his room and heading downstairs.

Breakfast was like normal. They came downstairs and greeted their other brothers, sat at the table (Seijuro obviously taking the seat next to Reo), and eating their food. When they were done, the five brothers headed out to school. Once they arrived at Rakuzan, they entered the large gates and made their way through the doors. Although it was only Reo who took a detour and followed Seijuro to the right instead of to the left like he should be. The other three stopped and stared at the teen in confusion.

"Reo-nee, where are you going?" Kotarou instigated "The high school block is on _this_ side of the building if you don't remember." Reo pointed a finger towards Seijuro.

"I told Sei-chan I'd walk him to his class today." he said. Seijuro possessively grabbed Reo's arm and glared at the others as if they planned to kidnap the high-schooler and take him for themselves.

"Reo-nii-san is coming with _me_ this morning." he declared, putting extra emphasis on the 'me'. They still weren't used to this clingy Seijuro. Although, the effects were supposed to wear off today, so it's not like they had to get used to him at all. But still.

"Try and hurry back Reo," Chihiro said after a long pause "you don't want to make yourself late." Then, after realizing that Seijuro wouldn't let up his glare until they left, he gestured to the other two and they left with him to go to their morning classes.

Reo had to walk far to Seijuro's class. He was told by his younger brother that his class was 2-A and they had to cover a lot of distance just to get there. By the time they arrived, there was still nobody around yet and voices of students were only heard in other corridors further ahead. Reo stopped in front of the door and looked at Seijuro.

"Well, we've reached your class, so I have to head to my own class now, Sei-chan." Seijuro threw himself onto his brother and hugged him tightly as he buried his face in his shirt like he did the night before.

"Don't gooooo~" he said, the shirt muffling what he was saying slightly. Reo hugged him back, looking left and right to check that no one was looking. He may be in heaven right now, but he didn't want to risk hurting Seijuro's reputation if anyone were to see him doing this.

"I know you don't want me to, but I have school as well, Sei-chan." Seijuro pouted and released his hold, looking predominantly unhappy with Reo's decision to go to class. Reo ignored the look and patted his head gently, attempting to appease the red-haired point guard.

"I'm sorry, Sei-chan, but you'll have to go without me until classes are finished for the day. Can you do that for me?" Seijuro deeply exhaled through his nose as he cast his gaze elsewhere.

"I guess so…" he muttered under his breath. Reo smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Alrighty then. I'll be off now. Be good, Sei-chan!" Seijuro waved back and regretfully said goodbye, trudging into his classroom soon after with a somewhat grumpy look on his face.

~O~

It was a long day of classes for everyone that day, the amount of topics studied was ridiculous if you looked at it. Well, Rakuzan was not only competitive sports-wise, but also academically, only the best being accepted into the school. By the time morning classes were done, probably every student was thankful when the bell rang for lunch.

"…And so I told her that the shirt wasn't even her colour. It looked too bland on her, in my opinion."

Reo was having a lively chat with two girls that were his friends in school. It wasn't until they were well into their conversation that the girls stopped talking and looked behind Reo.

"Who's that boy there? Is he lost?" one of them said. Reo turned around and looked where they were looking. Spotting who they were staring at, Reo's eyes widened in surprise. It was Seijuro.

"Sei-chan?" he said, bewildered at the sight of his younger brother "What are you doing here?" Seijuro blinked, not really seeing anything wrong with his sudden appearance.

"I was looking for you, Reo-nii-san." he answered. The two girls immediately gaped.

"He just called you 'nii-san'. Reo, is this your little brother?" Reo started.

"Ah, I haven't properly introduced him since we only started this school year a few months ago and he hasn't been around the high school division. Ladies, this is my brother, Sei-chan. Sei-chan, these are my friends. Say hello." Seijuro bowed to the two older girls. "My name is Seijuro. It's a pleasure to meet you." he said politely. Immediately, the girls were all over him.

"Oh my goodness aren't you the most precious thing ever?" The first girl squealed as she patted his head.

"And so well-mannered too," the other one added. "Seijuro-kun, how old are you?"

"I'm fourteen…um…"

"Just call me Ayumi-senpai!" the girl chirped.

"And call me Tamiko-senpai!" the other one said cheerfully. "Anyway, what brings you here into the high school block? Did you have a problem?" Seijuro shook his head.

"I just came to see Reo-nii-san." Reo wasn't really surprised when he heard that, the boy was still under the effects of the button after all. Yet that still didn't stop him from asking why he came to see him and if he needed something. Seijuro just gazed up at his older brother with an innocent expression.

"I just missed Reo-nii-san. That's all."

Yeah, he kinda brought that one upon himself.

Literally the moment he said that, Reo was trying so hard to keep his composure while the other two completely lost it, fangirling over how cute it was that he missed his brother despite only being away from him for four and a half hours.

"Seijuro-kun, you're such an angel, you know that?" Ayumi said, already hugging the boy.

"Nee, nee, Reo, let him stay with us for break!" Reo chuckled softly.

"Of course he can stay. We can go outside. Let's go, Sei-chan." Seijuro grinned and nodded, catching up to his brother and holding onto his arm as he trailed alongside him, telling him about his day amongst other things. They sat in a quiet place out in the sun to talk, the two girls asking Seijuro many questions. Seijuro seemed to enjoy his time with his brother and the other two senpai. Ayumi and Tamiko were exceedingly nice to him and they went on for ages talking about the most random things. Before they knew it, it was five minutes before the bell was going to ring.

"Ara, is that the time already?" Reo said in disbelief as he checked the time on his watch. "Sei-chan, you should probably hurry back before your class starts." Seijuro frowned and looked at his own watch, face falling slightly when he saw the time.

"Oh," he said quietly "I see." They all stood up from their spot on the benches. As soon as Reo was up, Seijuro hugged him again.

"Bye Reo-nii-san," he said, with a sullen tone. He honestly sounded so sad that Reo couldn't tell whether he was going back to class or attending a funeral. They were going to see each other after school. It's not like Reo was leaving forever. Well, not in Reo's point of view at least. Reo patted his head.

"Bye Sei-chan. I'll see you after school then?" Seijuro nodded and politely said his goodbyes to the girls before making haste to his class before he was late. Ayumi and Tamiko watched him go.

"Your brother is the cutest thing ever," they sighed in unison. Reo just laughed to himself as he turned to go inside.

"I'm well aware," he said "of how cute he can be."

~O~

Reo walked home on his way back from a clothing store after school. He was pretty tired from having to look after this clingy Seijuro all day. It was nice, but doing it for twenty-four hours is strenuous and it wore the sixteen year old down to the bone. Now he was beginning to realize why is was a negative side-effect might be a bad thing. He could only imagine how hard it would be to deal with a super clingy person on a daily basis. They would constantly need your attention; following you everywhere, wanting to do everything with you, always wanting you next to them, it would make sense why no one would want that. It takes away your liberation. Any free time you spend has to be with them. Every time you're busy has to be with them. Maybe that was what having a small kid was like—or rather, it's like he already has one. He was starting to wish for the old one back now. He suddenly stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. How come he didn't see Seijuro after school? Seijuro was definitely looking forward to it at lunch, probably just waiting for activities to end so he can go and be next to his older brother, but he never came. That's strange.

His best bet was to go back to the house and see what happened. So that's just what he did. He went straight home. As soon as he opened the door, Kotarou, Eikichi and Chihiro were nearest to the door.

"Welcome back, Reo," Chihiro called from the living room. Just like yesterday, the other two followed suit.

"Actually, Reo, can you come over here?" Chihiro was beckoning him over to where he was sat and Reo walked over and leaned in to hear what he had to say.

"You pressed that button yesterday, right?" Chihiro asked. Reo nodded in confirmation.

"I did," he said "Why do you ask?"

"Hmm, do you remember what time you pressed it?" Reo thought about the answer to this question but after a few moments, he realized he didn't know the answer to this question.

"I'm not sure I remember. But all I know is that it was after school." That seemed to be all the confirmation Chihiro needed because he looked like he was on to something.

"Ah, so that explains it." Reo furrowed his brows.

"Explains what? And where's Sei-chan?"

"Did someone call?"

Reo blinked and looked towards the staircase to find Seijuro approaching them. He had a hand on his head and he looked a bit strained but more or less stopped in front of the entrance to the living room and turned towards the black-haired teenager.

"Ah, welcome back, Reo-nii-san," he said. That was it. No shouting, no tackling, nothing more than a greeting. Reo knew now that the effects must have worn off.

"Sei-chan…do you perhaps remember anything?" The redhead merely stared.

"I wasn't feeling well so I went to go lie down and now I have no recollection of what happened today or yesterday. Also, my head is killing me." As if that reminded him to take something for it. He suddenly changed directions and strolled towards the kitchen, looking for the aspirin in the medicine cabinet. Ah, so this is what Chihiro meant. He must be recoiling from the effects of the button. I guess he really doesn't remember what happened. Although that's probably for the best.

"Oh, and Reo-nii-san?"

Reo jolted out of thought and looked at Seijuro who was just coming from the kitchen with a glass of water.

"Y-Yes, Sei-chan?"

"Well I don't remember anything at all," he began "so I wanted to know if anything happened that I should know of." Reo shot a glance to the older brothers and then turned his gaze back to Seijuro before letting out a small nervous laugh.

"Ah, nothing important really," he lied. Seijuro seemed to accept this comment, nodding in understanding as he sipped his water.

"I see," he said "In that case, I'm going to lie down for a bit more to sleep off this headache." With that, he turned and headed back upstairs to his room. Hearing the door close, Reo finally breathed a sigh of relief. Well, that was close.

* * *

 ***Runs back onto fanfic because I forgot to write conclusion blurb* Thank you, I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sorry if the ending is a bit rushed but after seeing the word count I realized I got too carried away and, well, yeah. Hahaha I hope I can update soon before I'm swamped with work. But until then...**

 **Read and review please!**


	13. Kitchen nightmare

**Ladies and gentlemen I am back after a week of inactivity. Sorry, I had to adjust since I'm now back in the UK for school and my sleep schedule has been wrecked ever since so I needed to tend to that first. Anyway, I thought I'd upload before I head to class in ten minutes so I hope you enjoy!**

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Kitchen nightmare

So it was the weekend again. Early Saturday afternoon, to be exact. Kotarou and Chihiro were sitting in the living room again, the younger flipping through the channels while the older flipped through a light novel. To pass time as he searched for an interesting show to watch, Kotarou decided to break the silence between the two.

"So, where did you say that Seijuro and Reo-nee went?" Chihiro's eyes flickered from the page he was reading to the yellow-haired teenager on the other couch. He stared at him for a moment before his gaze turned back to the thin book on his lap.

"They went shopping."

"Oh, okay." There was a short silence that lasted a few moments before Kotarou spoke again.

"When will they be back?"

Before Chihiro could even do as much as open his mouth to respond, the door unlocked, as if on cue, and the handle twisted downwards before the door was pushed open and two people stepped inside the house, those people being Reo and Seijuro.

"Hello, were back," Seijuro announced as they walked to the kitchen. Both brothers were carrying several grocery bags and set them on the kitchen counter. Kotarou eyed the bags with slight bafflement.

"Eh? You went grocery shopping? Didn't we already buy groceries on Wednesday?"

"We did," said Reo "but this is different."

"What do you mean?"

Reo and Seijuro began taking the items out of the white plastic bags and setting them on the kitchen counter as Kotarou sauntered over to the kitchen to find out what Reo was talking about. What they were taking out of the bag was quite unusual in terms of what they normally brought home. Flour, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, cocoa powder, white distilled vinegar, the amount of things brought out of the grocery bags were endless. And yet, they wouldn't be bought unless…

"Are you baking something?"

"Precisely," Seijuro said as he went to discard the plastic grocery bags. "Reo-nii-san said that there was a recipe he wanted to try making," he looked up at Reo for confirmation. "That was what you said, wasn't it?"

"Yes, yes it was," Reo answered. Kotarou stared at the large display of baking ingredients, wondering what they could possibly make with all of them.

"So, what is it? The recipe you wanted to try making, I mean." Reo didn't give him a verbal response and instead strolled over to the other side of the kitchen and retrieved a cookbook. He then brought it back over to Kotarou, swiftly gliding over the many recipes before stopping on a bookmarked page. This is when he set the book down in front of the boy and watched him as he read the title.

"Red velvet cake?" Kotarou read off the page.

"Why yes. That is what I had in mind," Reo said before staring up at the ceiling in reverie and sighing dreamily.

"It was someone's birthday in my class a few days ago and they brought in that same cake to share with the class and I swear, after one bite, I felt like I had already died and gone to cake heaven." Kotarou rolled his eyes at his brother's daydreaming. The man was basically sparkling, talking about how amazing that cake was. While Reo relived dessert bliss in his imagination, Seijuro decided to continue for him.

"In short, after that, Reo-nii-san said that he wanted to try making it himself," he added "which is why we went out and bought all this." He made a vague gesture to the array of ingredients on the counter and then went to go snap a finger in front of Reo's face, bringing him down from whatever cloud he was on, whether that be cloud nine, ten, or eleven. Kotarou's eyes sparked with curiosity.

"So, you're gonna make a cake today?" he asked. The two boys nodded. Reo analysed the look on his face and could already predict what he was going to say next; so he decided to just ask his question in a straight-forward manner.

"Kotarou, did you want to help?" If Kotarou had ears like a cat or dog, he would imagine them shooting straight up in the air like the way they did if you were to ask one of those animals if they'd like to go for a walk or have a treat.

"Could I?!" Kotarou says with bursting enthusiasm, beaming expectantly at the two. Reo shrugged and began getting some aprons from one of the kitchen drawers.

"If that's what you want," he said. Kotarou jumped up in excitement.

"Yesssss!" he yelled, pumping his fist into the air.

"But," Reo interjected before Kotarou could run off to get an apron "you have to do what I say. Understand?"

"Okay!"

"Wait, wait. Let me say that again because I feel like you're just saying that without really meaning it. You, as in you Kotarou, have to do what _I_ say."

"Yes!"

"As in actually do it."

"Yeah…"

"As in whatever I say goes."

"Uh-huh..."

"Are you sure you understand?"

"If I say yes, can I get my apron?"

Reo sighed.

"Yes, you may." Without another second delayed Kotarou was already gone from in front of him, almost running to go retrieve an apron from the kitchen drawer. While that was happening, Eikichi walked into the kitchen, stretching his arms towards the ceiling.

"Yo," he said casually. Everyone in the kitchen turned around and found the large-framed teenager strolling over to where they were, eventually stopping in front of the kitchen counter and leaning over it slightly to examine all the ingredients that lay on it.

"You guys baking or something?" he asked. "Need a hand?"

It was at that moment that the three of them tensed up and froze, staring at Eikichi in utmost horror. Help them? Was he crazy?

"Um, no thanks," Kotarou said after an awkward silence "We're good."

"Huh? Why not?"

Kotarou could think of many reasons on why he shouldn't help them. Was Eikichi even remotely aware of his own horrendous cooking skills? You'd think that for someone who eats as much as him, he'd actually know what good food tastes like. It was a damn shame. His skills were just as bad as Satsuki's or Shintarou's, if not worse; also, he was prone to putting proteins and other supplements into whatever he was making, like that coach with the short brown hair from Seirin that Taiga and Tetsuya kept talking about. The odours that arose from the kitchen when he cooks are bad enough to make children cry and just one taste would be enough to send you to the hospital or maybe, if his concoctions were potent enough, the grave.

"What do you mean why not?" Reo said incredulously as he got out some mixing bowls. "Have you forgotten what you did to Sei-chan?" Eikichi may not remember as much, but Seijuro definitely did. Never did the redhead imagine that yakisoba could go so horribly wrong. He did in fact have to go to the hospital after passing out, as if the supplements in it weren't bad enough to knock him unconscious. He was relatively sure he was going to die, since he never felt so much pain in his stomach in his entire life, not to mention the fact that he had to be on a drip for two days after that since his body rejected pretty much any medicine he put in his mouth. Just the very thought of that unsavoury event just makes him want to—

"Urgh…" Seijuro clutched his stomach in agony as he lurched forward and dropped the measuring cups on the table. Reo thrust a hand towards Seijuro, as if the redhead's one action supported his entire argument.

"See? It was so bad that every time it's brought up, Sei-chan always looks like he's in pain!"

"It was just that one time!

"One time too many! I refuse to be taking anyone to the hospital today, thank you very much. My goodness, if you want to help that bad, then you can start by sitting there and just staying out of the way, if you don't mind!"

"Ah come on," Eikichi protested "I could probably do a couple steps in your recipe or whatever." Reo made a noise that was a combination of a sigh and a grunt in annoyance. He knew that there were some things in a recipe that you just can't mess up, no matter how hard you try. But even so, he was still wary that Eikichi might poison everyone. Well, if it gets that bad, he could just watch him, right? The black-haired teenager eventually put his hands up in surrender.

"Alright, alright, you can help."

"Aw yeah!" he shouted.

" _But_ ," Reo said, putting up and hand to silence him "if I think you're doing something wrong, you had better listen when I tell you to step away, or I'll kill you."

"Oi! Isn't killing me a bit too harsh?!"

"Well it's better than letting your cooking kill the whole family!"

Seijuro went over and grabbed the cookbook from the counter.

"Well, let's begin, shall we?"

~O~

After that long argument, the four finally took a start on the cake. The first thing that they needed to do was preheat the oven to 180 degrees. This task was simple enough, so he assigned it to Eikichi, whom he watched very closely as he went up to the oven and pressed the buttons to switch it on and set it to the correct temperature. After oiling the cake pans, the next order of business was sifting the dry ingredients together while the wet ingredients were mixed in another bowl. Those jobs were given to Kotarou and Seijuro, much to Eikichi's annoyance.

"Come on Reo, I can at least do the dry ingredients part," he said, attempting to convince his brother that he was at least somewhat capable with handling something like mixing ingredients.

"Knowing you, you'd probably get the measurements wrong," Reo huffed. He wasn't letting Eikichi have his way. "You remember the agreement, you do as I say and not the other way around."

"You're a real tyrant, you know that?"

"Good. At least you know which one of us has the authority. If it makes you feel better, I can let you mix the ingredients in the electric mixer."

"Whatever…"

Seijuro and Kotarou were meant to be putting their corresponding ingredients in their bowls by the time Reo went to go check on them. But it seemed that Nuisance found her way into the kitchen and she was sitting on a chair next to the two while Kotarou was fooling around.

"Hey check it out Sei! Look what I can do with these eggs!"

He began erratically tossing them in the air, somehow managing to catch them each and every single time as he kept a pace and he skilfully juggled them in quick succession.

"Kotarou, if you keep throwing the eggs like that, you're going to drop them," Reo scolded.

"It's fine, I can do it," Kotarou said as he caught one egg and threw another one in the air. Reo shook his head.

"You know, I'm surprised you haven't said anything yet, Sei-chan." He looked over at the redhead and found he was actually focused more on Kotarou's performance than what he just said. In fact, Reo wasn't even certain that he was listening at all. He looked so enticed by the juggling, after all. Even Nuisance looked like she was enjoying herself, watching Kotarou juggle alongside her master. Reo shook his head in amusement. They were long gone.

Like Reo promised, he allowed Eikichi to do the mixing. Although also like Reo promised, he was still observing him closely. It was a bit excessive in Eikichi's opinion but Reo refused to allow anything to happen to this cake. If he was going to ruin anyone's cooking, at least let it be his own instead of someone else's.

The process was simple. All Eikichi had to do was put the bowl under the electric mixer and press a button, letting the machine do most of the work. All he needed to do after that was switch it off. How difficult could it possibly be?

"Okay, so what switch do I set it to?"

Eikichi examined all the buttons that were on this modern contraption, trying to figure out which button would be the correct button. There were so many different settings, and so Eikichi, with the limited knowledge he had of cooking appliances, was officially confused. Not knowing what to do, he just went with a random setting.

"Alright, so I'll try _this_ button!"

"Wait, no! Not that one—!"

Reo called out to him too late. By the time the first words tumbled out of his mouth all panicked and rushed, Eikichi had already pushed the button for the highest setting which was something that he _wasn't supposed to do_. The mixer went haywire and some cake batter splattered all over everyone's faces including Nuisance's. Reo, who was now blinded by the mixture splattered over his face, stumbled forward and turned the mixer off, saving the majority of the rest of the cake batter in the bowl from ending up on the floor or on their clothes. The whirring of the machine ceased, and everyone was stood in place, not quite sure what to do, until, slowly, Seijuro reached up with his hand, swiped a finger across his face, and tasted the batter.

"I like it," he decided with some complacency. Kotarou followed suit and licked some of the batter off his face as well.

"Ehhh, not bad," he said. Even Nuisance was licking the cake batter off her paws, looking particularly happy about it as well. As for Eikichi, he wasn't exactly the happiest he could have been at the moment. If anything, he was fearing for his life. He was certain that Reo was glaring daggers at the back of his head, it wasn't difficult to feel that stare boring into him. If a psychic could read Reo's mind at that moment, they'd probably hear Reo say the word 'kill' over and over in his head. Even pressing a button proved to be a challenge for this culinary impaired teenager and he was considering whether he should let him live or not for nearly ruining the cake batter and making a giant mess out of the kitchen at the same time. If that happened, it would have been killing two birds with one stone. Oh how Reo wished he had a stone to throw at this man right now…

"Eikichi, go get the mop please."

Even though Reo said it politely, there was no missing the iciness of his voice. Even the 'please' sent shivers up Eikichi's spine and made the hairs on his neck stand up on end. Well, he may be in trouble for messing up this step, but he was thankful that Reo had some type of mercy on him; for example, Eikichi could have been the mop, and be made to lick the ground clean as punishment. He'd definitely get sick from whatever bacteria was on there, only God knows what lurking on those floorboards.

"Yes, Reo…"

~O~

When Reo had suppressed all of his urges to murder Eikichi, he poured the rest of the batter in the cake pans and put them in the oven. He set the time for thirty minutes and then pushed the oven door closed.

"Okay," Reo said. "Now that the cake is in the oven, we can focus on cleaning up everything else so that we can have space to work with when we make the icing." Everyone nodded in understanding and began to clear up the batter-covered mixing bowls and any type of utensils used, bringing it towards the sink to be washed. They also began putting the ingredients that they didn't need any more back where they were supposed to go. That was when Reo's phone began to ring.

"Ah, I'll be right back," Reo said as he pressed the answer button. "For now, just keep clearing up until I get back." He turned to Seijuro just before going out of the room.

"Sei-chan, if I don't come back in fifteen minutes, can I trust you to rotate the pans in the oven for me?" Seijuro nodded dutifully.

"Yes," he said.

"Then, I'll leave you to it~!" With that, he turned and left, beginning a conversation with whoever was on the other line. The three brothers were left to the rest of the cleaning. They started on the bowls and utensils in the sink and began to wash them, Eikichi washing, Kotarou drying, and Seijuro putting away. By this time, it had been fifteen minutes and so Seijuro rotated the cake pans like he was asked and closed the oven once more. After that, they were putting away the rest of the ingredients.

"Oi Eikichi! Don't spill vanilla extract all over the floor. Hold it properly!"

"I was!"

"If you were then it wouldn't have spilled!"

Why was it that even putting away ingredients was such a difficult task for this man? It's like he lacked any type of skill when it came to making or doing something in the kitchen. When Kotarou turned back to the kitchen counter, he saw that Seijuro seemed to be looking around for something.

"What's wrong Sei? Didja lose somethin'?"

"I think the proper term would be 'someone'," Seijuro mumbled as he went on his hands and knees to search under the kitchen table. "Nuisance was just here and now I can't find her."

"Oi, Seijuro, what is your cat doing?" The two glanced at Eikichi, who was pointing upwards. They both looked up to find Nuisance was sitting on top of the kitchen cupboards. How did she even get up there? And how did she do that going unnoticed? Seijuro blanked on the answer to all those questions.

"Nuisance, no! Get down from there!"

The cat tilted her head, most likely not understanding the command nor the sternness in her master's voice. She merely turned to the right and eyed the bag that was resting just a couple feet away from where she was sitting. Seijuro and Kotarou eyed the bag with confusion.

"Eikichi-nii-san, what is that?" Eikichi turned towards the redhead.

"Hmm? Oh, I put the bag of flour there when I was putting things away."

"Why would you do that?!"

"What? What's the problem?" Seijuro's gaze went back to the feline, who was already making her way towards the bag. Oh no.

"Nuisance, don't touch that." Seijuro commanded. If she heard him, she did a pretty good job in making it look like she didn't and kept strolling leisurely towards the flour, with that same mischievous glint in her eyes from the day they met her.

"Nuisance, cut it out!" Kotarou exclaimed.

She sat next to the bag.

"Nuisaaaaaance!"

She pawed the bag with some curiosity and then, on a whim, pushed it off the edge. The bag fell from the great height, the landing point being directly next to Eikichi. Kotarou leapt forward to catch it but he was a second too late. The bag of flour hit the floor with a loud thud and burst open, scattering the white power all over the floor, the table and the three of them while Nuisance leapt off the cupboard to the fridge and the fridge to the floor, scampering away before they could realize she was gone. Chihiro, who had been in the living room the whole time, had just come into the kitchen after hearing the noise and came to see what was up.

"Guys, what's all the commotion?" he asked. As soon as he caught sight of the three, he stopped in his tracks and stared. They were absolutely covered in flour from head to toe. They also hadn't moved since the powder had covered them in the first place. Just like before, they weren't quite sure of what to do, but Chihiro did. The grey-haired teenager immediately started chuckling to himself while he stared at the white mess that was his three brothers.

"Pfft—!" he snorted. "I thought you were baking a cake, not yourselves! In fact, all of you look like you're about to be deep fried!" He continued laughing as he looked at the large mess in the kitchen until he held his stomach and tears leaked out of his eyes. He stood himself up as he wiped his tears and attempted to stifle his laughter.

"Oh man, wait 'till Reo sees what a mess you guys have made."

"See what?"

Three nervous heads darted to the voice that came from the stairs and began to internally panic when Reo came into their vision. He had just gotten off the phone and was making his way down to the kitchen. Little did he know what happened when he was gone; that's probably why he looked so horrified when he saw what Chihiro was laughing so hard about.

"OH MY GOODNESS WHAT HAPPENED?!" he shouted as he ran over to examine the white-caked brothers in the kitchen. "I leave you guys for twenty minutes and you cover yourselves in flour? Care to tell me what happened?" Seijuro opened his mouth to explain but then his face contorted slightly and his nose twitched, letting out a violent sneeze in place of said explanation, the flour that lightly covered his hair now scattering in the atmosphere. Everyone stared as the white powder dispersed from his head and Seijuro just looked up at them and offered up a sheepish grin instead. Reo sighed and shook his head.

"Never mind."

~O~

When the three of them finished cleaning themselves up and Seijuro telling off Nuisance a bit when she walked back into the room, they watched as Reo worked on the frosting, the black-haired teenager saying that he would feel better doing it himself. He then took the frosting and spread it on the layers of cake after leaving it to cool on the side. Thus, the cake was finished. They all sat down at the kitchen table when it was done, plates all around as Reo brought the cake to the table and set it down, cutting it into slices with a knife and giving a piece to everyone.

"Alright, let's eat this!" Kotarou said excitedly. They all took a bite and revered in its deliciousness.

"It turned out perfectly!" Reo said with pride. Seijuro smiled as well.

"It's delicious, Reo-nii-san," he commented before taking another bite. Even Chihiro was impressed.

"Well, well, my compliments to the chef," he said. It was unknown what Eikichi or Kotarou said since their mouths were completely full of cake, but it went assumed that they said something along the lines of 'So good' before returning to devouring the red and white dessert. After maybe a minute or so, Kotarou tapped Eikichi on the shoulder.

"Yo Eikichi!" The boy turned around.

"Hah?" he grunted. Suddenly a finger swiped across his face, smearing frosting on the side of his cheek, and suddenly Kotarou was doubled over with laughter.

"Hahaha! Gotcha~!" he exclaimed. Eikichi growled and turned to his own cake.

"So that's how it is then?" he said. "Take this!" He took his frosting covered hand and got his own back by smearing it on Kotarou's face.

"HA! That's a good look on you Kotarou!" Reo made a disapproving face at them.

"Cut it out!" he said. "How old are you to be playing with your food like that?" Kotarou elected to ignore this question in favour of smearing frosting onto Reo's face this time. The black-haired teenager's dark aura surrounded him as he picked up his own cake.

"Oh-ho?" he said deviously "So you want to play dirty now? Is that how it is?" He took a bit of his cake and splattered it all over Kotarou's face. The shocked expression from Kotarou also made Reo laugh.

"Serves you right! I guess for today, revenge is a dish best served sweet."

"You all look ridiculous," Chihiro deadpanned as he stared at the three. Suddenly, he felt someone tug his shirt sleeve.

"Chihiro-nii-san…" He looked down.

"Ah, what is it, Sei—"

He was cut off by the cake that was suddenly thrown at his face. He froze in place trying to process what just happened. Then, with a deliberate slowness, Chihiro wiped the cake off of his eyelids before blinking and glaring at Seijuro, who was having a giggling fit at his masterpiece on his older brother's face. Chihiro huffed and silenced the laughter by throwing his cake at Seijuro, staining his face with the dessert as well, looking on in victory as it made contact. The boy blinked with his now wide eyes before shooting his own glare.

"You wanna go?" Chihiro smirked as he grabbed another slice of cake.

"Heh, you're on."

And so the five of them continued their battle, red velvet cake flying across the room, leaving the kitchen a mess again. But this time, they let this one slide.

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 **And done! I hope you liked this! I'm sorry but I just really needed to write about them being dorks and this chapter happened soooo yeah. Anyway, until I upload again, you know what to do...**

 **Read and review please!**


	14. Behind your back

**Hello! I didn't think I'd update for another two days but it appears that I'm ahead of schedule.**

 **BEFORE YOU BEGIN:**

 **I just wanted to say that this is another fluff chapter (yeah I'm trash I know) but in order to make it happen, there's a bit of sadness in here so it's not that humorous in that sense. Just telling you. Okay, thank you, now you can enjoy.**

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Behind your back

Seijuro, class 2-A, second year of middle school. Personality, exceptional. Grades, exceptional. Sports skill, exceptional. President of the student council, vice-captain of the basketball team. He is a boy who excels in all fields, nothing short of a monster, the purest form of perfection. This perfection can be extremely advantageous in any and every type of situation, although, some could say it was a blessing and a curse. Strangely enough, Seijuro never believed that statement. Never did he think he would eat these words until one day in school, when he went to retrieve something from his locker during lunch and paused next to the door when he heard some of his classmates mention his name in a conversation inside.

"Don't you just hate the way Seijuro is perfect in everything?" one person said. A small group of three boys who were sitting inside the classroom on the desks talking about the usual gossip. The other two nodded.

"Yeah, the annoying way he always skulks about the hallways with his head held high like he knows everything," another one said.

"I get what you mean," the third boy chimed. "He always acts like he's better than everyone. Like he's too good for this school or something. It pisses me off." The boys murmured their agreements and continued talking. Seijuro stayed stood outside his classroom as he heard the gossip fly about the classroom. In fact, he looked quite dumbfounded, taking in and processing this new information.

 _This…is news to me_ , he thought. He hadn't realized that he actually had people who disliked him in school. He had excellent grades, his manners were polished, and he fulfilled all of his extracurricular duties. What was there to hate about him honestly? Well, he assumed just as much, since a lot of people would die to achieve the level of perfection that he has. But he thought that it would just be mere envy that these people were feeling, not complete hatred. He wanted to leave, but he found himself continuing to watch the scene from the safety of outside the room. The rude comments only persisted, however.

"That Seijuro kid, what a spoiled brat."

"He probably doesn't have many friends."

"Many friends? You mean none at all! There's no way someone would be his friend with that attitude of his. That's probably why he does so many activities, to keep is life from being so empty."

"He has older brothers doesn't he? How do they deal with him at home? I bet they hate him."

"He should just get lost, y'know?"

A subtle frown etched itself onto Seijuro's face as he stood in place. This was what people thought about him? If anything, he thought he was making a good impression on others. This was beyond his expectations. And yet…it was slightly disheartening to hear these types of things about him. It's true, he really didn't have anyone close to him in school, or in the neighbourhood he lives in either. He thought hanging out with his cousins was exactly like hanging out with a group of friends. They did a lot of things, went a lot of places, wasn't that enough? Why were they so bitter about his lifestyle? Had he been unintentionally rude to them? Was it something that he said? Seijuro pondered over their opinions for quite some time in the hallway. Even though he hadn't done anything wrong, maybe it was himself who should change if people talk about him like this. Actually, a better thing to say would be…

 _Why am I so concerned?_

 _The way others think of my life should not matter_ , he thought. _Especially if they're as hateful as this. I should just ignore it. It's not important for me to be stressing about other people's opinions if I haven't done anything to them. I should just go about my business_. And that's just what he did. When the bell rang, he strolled inside the classroom like nothing happened, ignoring the stares he got from the boys as their gossip circle dispersed and they went back to their seats to continue with the next lesson.

~O~

Ever since that day, he always felt their stares bore through the back of his head every time he did something. When he wrote down his notes, when he raised his hand to answer a question, when he excused himself to the bathroom, it's like they were always looking at him, always full of unjustified bitterness. Why they didn't like him, he didn't know; but it was just three people, right? Unless…

"What if others think about me in this way?"

Seijuro was walking to basketball practice after school. Just before he left, he had to grab his bottle from his locker and those three boys were staring at him again as they stood parallel to the redhead in the hallway. He left without saying a word, before the stares got too unbearable. It was really stupid to think such thoughts. Of course there couldn't be others who dislike him. Surely someone would have said something to him, right? Although people tend to talk about the people they dislike with others instead of telling that person directly. That's just the way things have worked, and it was a strange method that Seijuro never understood. It must be just those three and no one else. Well that's what he hoped. In fact, why was he thinking about this? He made it very apparent in his head that he shouldn't be caring about what other people think. And it's not like he's close to people in this school anyway. So then why? Why was this on his mind again? He sighed to himself.

"Anymore daydreaming and I'll be late," he muttered.

He picked up the pace and hurried over to the gym, pushing all of his obscure thoughts to the back of his mind. Whatever he was so unnecessarily distressed about could wait until after he was done for the day.

~O~

Seijuro was paranoid.

It was all because he overheard something that he shouldn't have. The nagging thought was always at the back of his head, threatening to resurface the moment he steps into the classroom. Now every time Seijuro saw a student speak to someone as he walked by, he always subconsciously wondered if they were talking about him. It was getting ridiculous. Since when has he allowed anything to affect him before? More like, this is the third time in a week he's reflected on this. Why can't he get rid of this problem?

 _I refuse to allow some ignorant comments to affect my emotional state_ , he thought. _I barely even talk to those guys, so it's not like they know me well enough to assume such vile things. I'm sick of thinking about this matter. In fact, I'll stop thinking about it right now._

Seijuro composes himself and walks into the classroom and puts his school bag down next to his desk. He's just about to sit down in his seat when he spots a note on his chair. Perplexed at the small folded piece of paper, he picks it up, examines it, and opens it, reading the large characters scribed for him inside with red ink.

'Nobody likes you here.'

Seijuro grimaced at the negative message that he read. Now here's someone who really has an issue with him. He surveyed the students around him and his eyes fell upon the troublemaking group of three he seems to have offended somehow. They stared back at him with menacing grins and then turned back to whatever they were doing.

"Childish," he hissed under his breath. He walked over to the bin at the corner of the classroom and ripped up the sheet of paper, watching the small bits flutter into the trash. He then strolled back to his seat, his expression neutral as always, and sat down before getting out his books and pencil case, doing some work as he waited for class to start. He hoped that these notes weren't going to become an everyday issue.

Unfortunately for Seijuro, it seemed that the notes did become an everyday issue. Every day in school, he'd always come in and find someone had left him a note on his chair, always saying some type of rude message in that same red ink pen; and every time Seijuro looked over at those three, they'd always look back with those same ugly grins on their faces. A thought flickered for a split second one day that maybe he should go and tell the teacher, but then he realized how useless they can be for situations like that; to be honest, he'd rather have Sensei stick to mathematical problems rather than social problems. So Seijuro decided that instead of putting up with whatever these messages said, he'd just ignore them entirely. So instead of reading it like the last time, or even doing as much as acknowledging them, he just disregarded them completely. When a note was left on his chair, he'd simply just sit down, pretending not to notice the piece of paper shifting off the edge of the chair and falling to the ground. Hey, what he doesn't read can't hurt him. The three boys didn't appreciate that gesture so they used other methods to convey their messages.

Seijuro went to go grab a notebook from his locker at break only for about ten pieces of paper to tumble out and onto the ground. Looking around suspiciously, Seijuro scooped up the papers and flipped through them.

'You're such a stuck-up brat.'

'You have no life.'

'You should just transfer out.'

His façade nearly slipped for a moment, his eyebrow twitching in irritation. This was getting ridiculous. How long do thy plan to write him these hateful notes? It's starting to really annoy him now. His fingers closed in on the white sheets as he clenched the paper and it crumpled under the weight. He strode over and angrily threw the offending notes into the bin in the hallway before striding back into the classroom.

Every day was a vicious cycle for Seijuro. He'd come into class in the morning and sit down, ignoring the rude note that was laying on his chair and shifting it out of the way. When this happens, the three find some other way to torment him, putting the notes in an unpredictable place, where he least expected it. This is so when he finds them, it'll be when he's off guard. And as always, he'd make sure to throw them in the trash before tending to his business. At first, he thought it was just some immature joke and that they'll get tired of it eventually, but now, he's not so sure. It had been two weeks since the notes began and the boys didn't show any sign of letting up. Was this how much they hated him? Seijuro suddenly felt a pang of sadness that made his chest ache. He immediately suppressed that feeling and shook off his thoughts.

"Just forget it and go home," he told himself. "It's not important."

~O~

"Sei-chan, are you okay?"

The five brothers were sitting at the table eating dinner. Everyone was conversing happily with one another except for him of course. Seijuro was the quietest out of them all and Reo could tell something was on his mind. He hadn't touched much of his food and he just sat there staring into space, using the palm of his hand to prop up his chin as he looked off to the side. Seijuro gazed at his older brother and quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm perfectly fine, Reo-nii-san. What makes you say that?"

"Well it's kinda obvious, isn't it?" Kotarou said. "I mean you seem kinda…distant, if you know what I mean." The redhead stared at Kotarou in silence before continuing to look off to the side.

"Is that so?" he said. Kotarou and Reo exchanged a look before shrugging and going back to their food. Meanwhile, Chihiro stared at Seijuro as he daydreamed. Something was off with him.

After dinner, Seijuro cleared his plate away before excusing himself to go upstairs. He entered his bedroom, leaving the door open just slightly and trudged over and flopped down onto his bed, heaving out an exhausted sigh as he stared blankly at the ceiling. He was thinking about it again. About everything. The comments, the dirty looks, the notes, just all the harassment in general. He didn't know exactly how long it would go on for, but it was becoming tiring trying to avoid all that mess. How much could three people dislike him anyway? Were there others like this? Others who secretly loathed him but kept it secret? It might not matter if that was the case for his other classmates but what if his family, or even his cousins thought that way about him? Tetsuya, Taiga, Ryouta, Shintarou, Daiki, Satsuki, Atsushi, Shuuzo even Shōgo; did they even like him? But how could he know? Who could give him a straightforward opinion?

…

"Seijuro, it is rare for you to call me, nanodayo."

Seijuro decided to call Shintarou for his opinion; they always seemed to get along the most out of all of the miracles. Perhaps the glasses wearing boy could tell Seijuro what he wanted to hear.

"It is indeed," Seijuro concurred. "Listen, I need to ask you a question."

"A question? What kind of question?"

"You'll know soon enough. But promise me one thing." He could hear Shintarou grunt in confusion.

"What is it that I should promise, nanodayo?"

"You have to give me your one hundred percent honest opinion. No lies, no sugar-coating, just the honest truth."

"Seijuro, when have I ever not told you the truth? I haven't lied to you in the past and I certainly won't start now, nanodayo. How important is this question that you're asking?"

"Just promise." A long sigh emanated from the receiver before a brief silence fell upon them.

"Fine. I promise. Now ask me what you want to ask me, nanodayo." Seijuro took a deep breath before exhaling slowly.

"…What do you think of me?"

"What?"

"I said, what do you think of me?"

"What do you mean by that, nodayo?" Shintarou instigated. "Are you referring to what I think about you in terms of basketball skill?"

"No, I didn't mean it in that way," said Seijuro.

"Then what did you mean, nodayo?"

"I meant as a person. In general. What do you think of me as a whole?" This took a lot of considering from Shintarou and he didn't answer for some time. Seijuro was beginning to wonder if he hadn't heard him as was about to ask again when Shintarou finally answered.

"I find no faults with you as a person, nodayo," said Shintarou. "There is no reason for me to dislike you." Seijuro nodded as if he was talking to Shintarou face to face.

"I see," he almost whispered. If Seijuro could see Shintarou at that moment, he would have seen him narrow his eyes in suspicion.

"Why is it that you are asking such a question? Since when have opinions mattered to you, nanodayo?" Seijuro bit his lip trying to hold back a frown.

"It is not important," he said.

"Seijuro, this is unlike you, nanodayo. I should at least know why you are asking such strange questions." Now it was Seijuro's turn to sigh.

"If you insist," he said.

From the beginning, he recounted everything. He told him how people started to stare at him weirdly, talk about him behind his back and leave offensive notes wherever he goes for him to read. He told him how he was just checking to see if no one else thought the same way. He was sure Shintarou was listening with utmost seriousness, but when he finished recounting his tale, surprisingly, Shintarou made a sound akin to a small chuckle on the other line.

"And what is it that you find so amusing, Shintarou?"

"What I find amusing is that you'd believe such nonsense, nanodayo. Clearly the things they are saying about you are untrue."

"Yes, I know," Seijuro retorted. "I was just hoping that no one else had their mindset, especially you guys. I know it's foolish of me. Laugh at me all you want for my silly thoughts." He waited for that uncharacteristic snicker across the phone but he never heard one. Instead, Shintarou began to speak again.

"I do not find it particularly funny, nanodayo," Shintarou said.

"Why not?" Seijuro asked.

"If we disliked you that strongly, do you think I would have even bothered to pick up the phone? Since when did you care about this, nanodayo?"

Seijuro rolled over to his side on the bed. "Since about two weeks ago." It was a bit quiet after that. Neither person seemed to hang up though. Suddenly, Seijuro jolted slightly when, after almost thirty seconds, he heard an awkward cough.

"Seijuro,"

"Yes?"

Another pause.

"W-Well, it's not like I care or anything, but—" Oh there it is. Shintarou's classic catchphrase which basically means that he does care but he doesn't want to tell you that directly. Seijuro stifled the laugh that was threatening to escape his mouth so he could listen to what his cousin had to say.

"It's not like I care or anything, but, you should not listen to those three ignorant morons in your class, nodayo. They have no idea what you are like as person. Forget about whatever insecurities you have at the moment. You don't have to change anything about yourself if there was nothing wrong in the first place."

Seijuro was taken aback. Even though Shintarou said nice things on very special occasions, he never expected to hear something so…supportive. No wonder he was a tsundere. It didn't fit a person like him to be like this twenty-four seven. Still he continued.

"Don't think for a second that I, or any of the others for that matter, harbour some kind of secret dislike for you. That is untrue, nanodayo. I don't know what conclusions you have been jumping to during these past two weeks, but I'll tell you now that we are family, and, as family, we don't hate you in the slightest. So stop worrying."

By the time Shintarou had finished talking, Seijuro just lay on his bed without saying a word. No doubt, he was surprised. His eyes were wide, his mouth was slightly parted and the look on his face said it all. He was rendered completely speechless. For a few seconds Shintarou had assumed that he had hung up.

"Hey, Seijuro, are you still the—"

"Thank you."

There was an audible hitch in Shintarou's breath as he took in this phrase of gratitude. After recovering, Shintarou huffed and the clack of titanium frames notified Seijuro on the other line that he had adjusted his glasses.

"I haven't really done anything, nanodayo. I was just trying to set your mind straight. Nothing more. And try not to dwell on this for too long. It might affect your health."

"Whatever you say, okaa-san."

"OI."

Seijuro snickered a little before pulling a grin.

"Well then, I guess I've heard what I wanted, so I should probably go. It was nice talking with you, Shintarou."

"Mhmm. Then I suppose it is goodbye for now."

"Yes. Goodbye."

The line cut and soon the sound of Shintarou's voice was replaced by the sound of static. Seijuro locked his phone and set it on his bedside. As he did so, Nuisance slipped through the door and made her way over to Seijuro's bed and leapt onto it skilfully. He instinctively began petting her head, feeling the vibrations of her underneath his palm as she purred.

"I guess you came to check on me, hmm?" Nuisance meowed and rolled over onto her back. Seijuro smiled slightly and moved his hand to her stomach, rubbing lightly as he stared at his digital clock to check the time.

"I suppose it's getting a bit late," he said. "I'd better get started on my work."

~O~

Even though Shintarou set his mind at ease about what his cousins thought about him, it still didn't stop all the notes being put on his desk. After all this time, it was getting fairly irritating. Throughout the duration of that week, Seijuro's mood slowly fell. It wasn't enough to impact his schoolwork, but he did drift off a few times in class.

"Seijuro-kun…Seijuro-kun…Seijuro-kun, are you listening? Can you tell me the answer to this question?"

His eyes darted from the window to the puzzled face of the teacher, who was standing near the board, pointing at a question. The entire class was staring at him in fact. That was when he realized that he wasn't paying attention.

"Ah, yes, sorry," he said. "The answer is the cytoplasm." The teacher blinked before going back to their neutral teaching expression.

"While that may be correct, you seem to be out of it, which is very unlike you. Are you feeling well? Would you like to go to the nurse?" Seijuro's cheeks darkened momentarily, feeling the heat from the stares that were piercing through him from all of his classmates.

"I am fine," he said as an immediate response. "I accidentally zoned out a bit, Sensei. It was my fault. Please continue." The teacher shrugged and went back to the animal cell diagram he drew on the board. The majority of the class also turned around and went back to their notes. The three boys, however, held their gaze for just a little longer than normal before they too returned to their own work. Seijuro sighed and picked up his pencil to copy the rest of the diagram on the board.

When class was dismissed, Seijuro left the room and leant his bag next to the lockers, walking on to a different sector of the building. He didn't have basketball practice that day, but he had a student council meeting and as president, he obviously had to attend. When his footsteps had finally faded, the three boys poked their heads out of the classroom. One boy nudged another and so he walked over with another note and slid it into Seijuro's bag before leaving with his other friends and going home.

~O~

Seijuro was now on the way home, walking back from school after the meeting was over. He was tired. Not physically, but more of mentally instead. He didn't have many things to do today so maybe a bit of relaxation was in order. That sounded like a good idea. Perhaps he could get his work out of the way quickly after dinner so he could have the rest of the night to himself. On the bright side, tomorrow was Friday, so he didn't have to worry about anything for the next two days. Especially those guys.

Curious to what the time was, he reached into his bag to get his phone out but stumbled across something else, as his hand brushed across a smooth thin surface. Whatever it was that he touched, he grabbed onto it and pulled it out, angered to find out what it was. It was another note, the large characters scribbled in their usual red ink, but this time, he actually read it. The characters he read off the page put a scandalized expression on his face and frankly he had never looked so offended. He was ready to crumple it up into a ball and throw it away but unfortunately, there were no trash cans around the area that he was in. Oh well, since he was almost there, he could just hold onto it until he got home, where he could finally have the satisfaction of ripping the thing to shreds.

He enters the house silently and takes off his shoes at the entrance, hearing the low drone of infomercials on the TV in the living room. He walked past without saying a word, completely absorbed in his own thoughts, until he collides into Chihiro and stumbles back.

"Oh, it's you Seijuro," Chihiro said. "Welcome back. I didn't hear you come in." Seijuro just shrugged.

"I guess not," he replied drily. He was just about to head off to the kitchen to get a drink when Chihiro leaned closer and kept his gaze on his younger brother.

"You…what's been up with you for the past few days? You always have that look on your face."

"What look?"

"You know exactly what look I'm referring to," Chihiro stated. "Like something's seriously bothering you."

"Hmm? What makes you say that?" Chihiro crossed his arms and stood his ground.

"Instinct."

Instinct? What did that mean? Seijuro probably would have said something else if his name hadn't been called from upstairs.

"Oi, Sei!" Kotarou shouted. "I need your help with something. Can you come upstairs?"

Seijuro put his bag down where he stood and willingly obliged to his older brother's request, internally thanking him for the convenient timing that allowed him to escape the interrogation.

"I'm coming, Kotarou-nii-san." He called from the bottom of the stairs. He went up and stood in the hallway.

"Where are you?" Seijuro said. Kotarou peered out from his bedroom door and beckoned the redhead over.

"Over here, Sei."

He walked over and entered Kotarou's room, following him towards his study desk and sitting down next to the giant pile of notes and textbooks.

"What is it you wanted me to help with?" Kotarou gave him a timid laugh.

"Well, remember when you said you were doing advanced mathematics in your free time?"

"Yes, I do," Seijuro answered. Kotarou pointed to the problems written on his open notebook and looked at his older brother with a slightly pleading expression.

"Do you think you could help me with these? Hehe…" Seijuro nodded and bent over the desk, examining each of the problems on the sheet of paper.

"It seems doable," he concluded. "Let's get started then.

~O~

"No, Nuisance. Don't go through Seijuro's bag like that."

Chihiro was walking back from the kitchen towards the living room and was about to sit down when he saw the feline slink over to her master's schoolbag and stick her head in it, disarraying the contents and scattering everything. When she wouldn't stop, Chihiro went over and pulled her out of there, the cat's head coming free from the bag, a piece of paper held in her mouth. Chihiro confiscated the paper from her before shooing her into the living room. At first, he assumed the paper to just be some worksheet he had been assigned, but when he flipped it over, that's when he realized that this was no assignment he was holding. It was much worse than that.

'You should just drop dead, Seijuro.'

Chihiro scowled fiercely at the incriminating note. This was addressed to Seijuro, who would write such a thing? This wasn't even funny at all. Someone must have put it in his bag of course, but why? So Seijuro had people who harassed him in school. There's no two ways about it. Chihiro felt his fists clench till his knuckles were white.

"I'm gonna kill whoever did this," he mumbled. Reo and Eikichi passed by just early enough to hear him.

"Whoever did what?" said Reo.

"Yeah," said Eikichi. "What're you talking about?" Chihiro handed over the note and the two both took it into their hands and read the message scrawled in that retched colour. Both of their faces twisted with complete and utter shock and disgust.

"Oi, what the hell is this about?" Eikichi demanded.

"Why would anyone write such things about Sei-chan?" Reo asked. "Since when was he being bullied?"

"It doesn't matter," Chihiro stated. "All I want to know is who did it." It was safe to say that Chihiro was more than just angry right now. He was furious, livid even; and the grey of his pupils burned cold rage. He didn't say another word about it. He just turned on his heels and began striding towards the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Reo said to him. He paused mid-step without turning around before he gave his reply.

"I'm going upstairs," he said. "It appears I need to have a talk with Seijuro." With that, he continued on, leaving the two brothers downstairs to wonder what would happen between the two.

…

When Chihiro knocked on Seijuro's door he heard a quiet 'Come in' before twisting the doorknob and entering the room. Seijuro was sat on his bed, setting up his shogi board, when he looked up to find his older brother approaching him.

"Ah, Chihiro-nii-san…" he said. Chihiro sat on his bed and crossed his legs as he sat opposite from Seijuro. He gestured towards the traditional wooden board.

"Mind if I play?" he asked. Seijuro's eyes widened momentarily before nodding his head and remaining silent, looking at Chihiro expectantly, signalling him to make the first move. Chihiro idly moved a pawn one space forward to initiate their conversation.

"It's rare for you to play shogi with me," Seijuro said after some time. His expression hadn't changed, but the way he said it sounded like he was wary of his presence. He set down a piece on the board, it was Chihiro's turn.

"Yes, it is," he agreed as he searched for a piece to move. "Actually, I came to talk to you about something. He moved another piece and Seijuro's eyes flew to his own array of pieces, trying to figure out a strategy.

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" a hand reached over to his knight. Chihiro pulled the note out of his pocket and unfolded it, holding it up next to his head. The pale white hand delicately lifted the knight piece in the air.

"I came to talk to you about this."

A clack resonated off the walls loud and clear as the shogi piece fell from a frozen hand, bouncing of the board, the piece landing on the duvet instead. Seijuro was staring at the sheet of paper in the utmost horror, his heart dropping into his stomach; he could barely believe his own eyes.

"Where did you get that?" Seijuro said in a low voice. He tried to take it from Chihiro but he only held it back so he couldn't reach it from the other side.

"It's lucky Nuisance picked the right day to sort through your bag," he retorted. "Why was this in there?" Seijuro frowned.

"It doesn't matter, I was planning to dispose of it anyway. Just give it back."

"No, I'm not giving this back." Seijuro tried reaching over the shogi board again but Chihiro refused to let him do as much as get near it. He sighed in exasperation.

"Please just give it back," he groaned.

"Not until you tell me the problem,"

"I said it's not important."

"It is."

"Chihiro-nii-san, I'm fine."

"No you're not."

"I've already told you—"

" _Seijuro._ "

Just that one call of his name was enough to silence him completely. The boy sat back down in his place and cast his gaze to the covers of his bed, avoiding all eye contact. Chihiro put the note away and folded his arms.

"Why didn't you tell any of us?" Chihiro asked. Seijuro knew that he had to answer that, the look on his older brother's face demanded a reply. Yet for some reason, he couldn't think of one. Suddenly all of the words that were on the tip of his tongue were soon gone and his previous confidence in his answers had vanished.

"I thought I could handle it." he murmured, his voice getting quieter under the piercing glare of his brother. Chihiro shook his head.

"Well you thought wrong," he said. Seijuro kept his mouth close, not even attempting to speak. He felt ashamed, almost guilty that he didn't say anything to his brothers sooner. They all knew that he was troubled this entire time but of course his pride wouldn't let him say anything to them. His face heated up in embarrassment as his gaze went from his covers to the floor below them, completely avoiding looking his brother in the eyes. He planned to stay like that as well, were it not for the hand that reached over from across the shogi board and lifted his chin up so he and Chihiro were facing each other, fiery red meeting neutral grey.

"You should have told me," Chihiro said. For the first time in a long while, Seijuro could see just a sliver of emotion, and how he wished for it to be something other than deep concern.

"I still don't understand," Chihiro continued. "Why didn't you say something? I could have helped you." Seijuro desperately wanted to look the other direction, but Chihiro's hand was still holding his chin in place so he couldn't move his head just yet.

"How could you have possibly helped?" he said. "In all honesty, I don't know what you could have done, Chihiro-nii-san."

"So did you think that the notes would just magically disappear if you ignored it for long enough?"

"Those guys could have gotten tired of it eventually."

"But you're already at your limit, aren't you?" Seijuro clenched and relaxed his jaw and remained silent for a short moment.

"Why do you think that?"

"Are you really asking me that question? You were perfectly fine when you came home until around two weeks ago when your behaviour became strange and your mood worsened. You always looked tired and irritated. You say you can handle it, but you're already hurting, aren't you?" It was absolutely frightening the way Chihiro could be so perceptive. As usual, he was spot-on.

"I understand this is a personal thing for you, but can't you at least trust your own brothers enough to tell us your problems?" Seijuro's mouth became ever so slightly parted as his brother continued to speak.

"We're your family, Seijuro. Telling us your problems may sound pretty lame to you, but that's what we're here for. Do you think that it doesn't hurt us as well if you can't even trust us with that much? Otherwise, why are we here in the first place? As an older brother, I need to know these kind of things. It's okay for you to rely on us sometimes for problems. True, I might not be able to solve them, but I can sure as hell try." The next thing he did was even more amazing. Seijuro's eyes grew wide as his brother's mouth curved upwards and his eyes crinkled shut. He was smiling, the biggest Seijuro had ever seen him smile without even showing his teeth like this. He did laugh on occasion, but this time was different. Without even needing words to communicate, Seijuro was instantly moved, unable to stop what was going to happen next. Chihiro opened his eyes, suddenly quirking a brow as he looked down at the hand under Seijuro's chin feeling something…wet? He immediately jerked his head up and looked at Seijuro, taken aback when he saw the tears streaming down his face so uncontrollably.

"O-Oi, Seijuro, what's wrong?" he said. His hand went to his shoulder instead and gently shook him to get his attention.

"Are you okay? Seijuro?" Suddenly, a force pushed him back, the sudden quick movement shoving the shogi board off the bed, the pieces scattering across the floor. Chihiro looked down and found Seijuro clinging to him, his face hidden by his shirt. He didn't even have time to say anything. Seijuro cut ahead and said the two least expecting words Chihiro would probably hear all day.

"I'm sorry."

Chihiro eyed his brother in surprise.

"Sorry for what? Why are you apologizing?" Seijuro didn't make eye contact but still continued.

"I should have probably told you. I didn't mean to anger you or anything."

"I'm not mad," Chihiro said. "I was just confused as to why. I'm not asking you to say sorry for anything." Seijuro sniffed before holding on tighter to his brother.

"Yes, but still…" Whatever he was going to say next didn't come out of his mouth as his brother just pulled him closer and wrapped his arms around him, not saying a word until he was sure that Seijuro was still.

"Just be quiet, you have nothing to be sorry for," he said. "But you have to tell us the problem next time, okay?" He felt Seijuro nod and sniff loudly before letting out a sigh.

"Yes, Chihiro-nii-san."

Chihiro sighed as he idly began rubbing circles on Seijuro's back. Kids these days, what are you gonna do?

…

After that night, Chihiro did in fact did help solve this problem of harassment. Apparently cornering people in a darkened hallway and threatening them with murder if they ever hurt Seijuro again seemed to be really effective. Who knew? Seijuro no longer had any problems in school after that, all thanks to Chihiro. So when they were walking home behind the others the next day after basketball practice, he took a deep breath and said the words he had been holding in all day.

"Thank you, Chihiro-nii-san." The grey-haired teenager looked down at Seijuro with a perplexed expression.

"Thank you for what?" he questioned.

"For helping me solve my problem."

"Ah, it was no big deal or anything," he said with the wave of his hand. "I'm just fulfilling my duties as an older brother. I basically signed up for it, you know." Seijuro chuckled.

"I'll say my thanks anyway."

"Oi, you two! If you don't hurry up, the light'll turn red while you're crossing the street!"

The two brothers exchanged looks before staring at the street ahead.

"Shall we?"

"We shall."

And with that, they were on their way. As Chihiro took the first steps towards the crosswalk, Seijuro stared at him before smiling fondly and linking his arm with his brother's. He would've expected at least the usual eyebrow raise or something akin to confusion, but this time, Chihiro didn't say anything, and for that, Seijuro was glad. As they continued on, Seijuro watched the sky turn from bluish-yellow to a mellow hue of orange. Having an older brother wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

 **Okay and I'm done! This chapter was again longer than I had planned it to be so hehe #sorrynotsorry. And I hope you liked the chapter. I suppose it was a bit OOC but I'm not exactly sure (to be honest when am I ever). But yeah I'll try and get started on the next chapter. Until then...**

 **Read and review please!**


	15. Treble at the concert

**Ohoho guess who's back. It's been only five days, actually. Anyway, here is the next chapter, I hope you like it, and I'm sorry if my description sucks. If you're wondering what I mean, you'll find out anyway. And yes, the title is a pun. Call it cheesy if you may, but I bet Izuki would love it.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Treble at the concert

Seijuro loved music. It was one of the several pastimes he has aside from playing basketball or shogi. He loved to play music as well, both on the piano and on the violin. When he wasn't having music lessons, he tended to play when he had time to spare, usually on weekends. This fine Sunday, he was on his way to the music shop. It had only opened the week before, and so Seijuro wanted to check it out. Before it opened, he usually had to travel quite a distance to find a music shop, but now he could find everything he needed close by without having to travel about half an hour by train just to get a music book or some measly bottle of violin polish.

He entered the shop and the bell above the door rang with a merry jingle. A man at the front desk saw him come in and welcomed him heartily.

"Hello there, young man," he greeted. "Is there anything I can help you with today?" Seijuro hummed in thought.

"Actually there is," he said. "Can you please point me to where the piano books are?" The man happily obliged and he led Seijuro to one section of the relatively spacious shop. There were many instruments on display such as guitars (both acoustic and electric), flutes, clarinets, trumpets and et cetera. There were also many types of instrument accessories such as guitar straps, trumpet mutes, small bottles of valve oil, and boxes of reeds. Different posters were blue-tacked to the wall as well, advertising music lessons, instrument repairs and free trials. When they finally reached the section Seijuro was looking for, the man came to halt in front of him.

"Well, here we are," the man heaved. "This is the shelf were we have books ranging from the beginners level to advanced, from obscure to more popular songs. Take your pick." Seijuro gazed in awe at the large array of music in front of him. The shelves were stacked high with these music books, all pristine with shiny covers. Who knew what kind of music was concealed inside? He could only know if he chose a book. The question was…which one should he choose?

"Hmm…" he said, going from book to book with assessing red eyes. The man who led him to the shelf noticed his uncertainty and tried to assist him in making a decision.

"Stuck are you?" he said with a laugh. "If you'd like, when you pick a book out, you can test it out before you buy it." He gestured behind them and Seijuro turned around to find many pianos on were display as well, both grand pianos and keyboards. Seijuro looked up at the man.

"I can play the piano here?" he asked.

"Of course!" the man said. "Well sell pianos here too, so of course we let people give them a little test run." He gently nudged the redhead towards the large instrument.

"Go on, play as much as you want." Seijuro bowed politely towards the man.

"Thank you sir."

"No problem," the man said. Suddenly, the bell above the door jingled and he straightened himself up as he looked towards the entrance like a vigilant animal.

"Ah, it seems I have another customer," he said to himself. He gave a small wave towards Seijuro before going to tend to the person just coming in.

"I'll be over there if you need me, have fun kid." Soon he was gone, and Seijuro could already hear him making a conversation with this next person.

Attention going back to the pianos, his eyes lit up when they fell upon a sleek black piano, the surface glistening as it reflected the rays of sun that shone brightly through the window. Entranced, he walked over to it, leaving the books on the shelf for the time being, and sat down in the leathery seat that was positioned in front of it. When he was comfortable in the seat, his sights were now turned towards the keys, the black and white things tempting him to press them down. And he gave in.

As quickly as he sat down, he began playing an enticing melody. It was bright and cheery, and the music reflected the weather outside to a T. The chords produced light-hearted sounds, his fingers almost skipping across the keys. If one were to listen to it, they would be able to hear the birds chirping, the leaves rustling, the wind blowing. It's was like the entire day was captured into various sounds and produced into notes from of this elegant instrument. Even with all these sounds incorporated, the volume level of this piece never went above the voice equivalent of hushed speaking until the very end, where he brought everything to a crescendo and the sounds from the last chord dissipated into the air. Seijuro took his fingers off the piano's keys and sighed in contentment. He hadn't played something that jovial in a while. When he had finished, he was about to stand up, when he heard someone clapping. He looked up from the piano to find that a man was watching him. He was around six feet tall, probably in his mid-twenties, and he had auburn hair and crystal clear blue eyes. He was wearing rather plain clothes; a blue shirt, some black jeans, black shoes, and a brown fedora. Seijuro was so absorbed in what he was playing, he didn't know when this man had come in, but he came early enough to hear most of his little performance from the looks of it. The man began striding towards him with a playful grin on his face, eyeing Seijuro with utmost intrigue.

"Now _that_ was music," he said, putting a delicate hand on the piano. "I've never heard it before. What piece was that? Was that the work of a new musician?" Seijuro blinked away his surprise and shrugged.

"No," he responded. "I just made it up as I went along."

"Ehhhh, you made it up yourself?" A laugh rang out from the man's mouth. It was just a regular laugh, but Seijuro had never heard anything so mellifluous in his entire life. It chimed just like the bell above the store entrance.

"Interesting," he said. "Yes, really interesting!"

Seijuro took in what the curious man said as a compliment. Well, that's what he thought it was anyway, he wasn't really focusing on what he said.

"Um, thank you sir," he answered after a few seconds of pause. The man smiled and began walking over to the shelves in front of the display of pianos, scanning through the selection.

"So, what is your name?" the man asked, lifting up one book after another, putting it down after taking the time to read the front cover. He stopped browsing for a moment to shift his gaze to the redhead who was sitting on the piano stool.

"My name is Seijuro," he said. The man nodded sagely and put another book back on the shelf.

"I see, I see," he mumbled.

"What about yours?"

"Hmm?"

"What's your name, sir?" The man turned around, putting his hands on his hips and offering a sly grin.

"Haruno Kazuki is the name, Kazu is just fine though."

"Okay…Kazu-san," Seijuro pronounced, testing out the new name on his tongue "have you come to buy a piano book as well?" There was a hum of uncertainty that came out of Kazu's mouth.

"I wasn't planning to even come into this store. I was just a passerby that happened to stumble across the shop by fate. Strange how fate works." Seijuro chuckled. That little line reminded him of a certain green-haired Shooting Guard.

"Anyway," Kazu continued "what about you? Were you planning to buy a book?"

"I was just browsing, really. Although the piano caught my attention and so I began to play instead."

"Ah, yes, your song was spectacular!" the man marvelled. "The way it lightly skipped along like a pebble across water, the way it could be pin-drop quiet at pianissimo yet never rise above mezzo forte, just breath-taking! I absolutely adored the chords you incorporated. Oh, and I loved the little trill you did in the twentieth measure. Very nice."

This was odd. Apparently Kazu knew more about music than Seijuro had originally assumed. This man did more than listen to his song. He analysed it, assessed it, judged it, and deemed it a masterpiece. What was he anyway?

"Kazu-san…are you a musician?"

"Ding! Ten points to Seijuro!" Kazu chimed, giving Seijuro this strange feeling that he was playing Jeopardy instead of having a conversation. "I am indeed a musician. I've played more instruments than I can count on both my hands. Clarinet, piano, baritone, violin, flute, saxophone, trumpet, oboe and plenty of others." Seijuro was impressed.

"That's amazing," he said. "I didn't know you could play so many. I only play the piano and the violin."

"That's still two more instruments than most other people." Seijuro blinked. Well, that was one way to see it…

"So, Seijuro, what about you? Have you come to buy a piano book?" The redhead shrugged.

"I'm not sure," he said.

"Then I'll help you choose!" Kazu exclaimed, turning back towards the large shelf and pulling a book out. He walked over to Seijuro and held it out in front of him so he could look at it.

"What about this?" he asked. Seijuro peered at the shiny front cover. Apparently what Kazu had pulled off the shelf was a book filled with Disney songs, from those classic American films that have been around since the early 1900s, which always incorporated the themes of either princesses, romance or adventure and is enjoyed by children and adults alike. Reo once brought a number of them home to watch since he was interested as to why they were so popular, so Seijuro had actually seen a fair few. Seijuro may not have been fluent just yet, but he and his brothers knew enough English to watch the originals, and so he could probably name a few songs which resided in the crisp white pages of this book. Even so…

"I've never played these kinds of songs before." Seijuro said. The traces of ambiguity were evident in his voice. Either way, it didn't affect Kazu in the slightest.

"Even if you haven't, music is all about exploration, is it not?" Again, Seijuro was taken aback with this man's words. Putting it bluntly, he was so…weird. But he sounded really wise as well. Well it seems that those two traits had no correlation after all. Besides, they were just songs, weren't they? So what if it was out of his comfort zone? Seijuro smiled and stared down at the book again.

"I suppose it is," he said. "Why not give it a test run on the piano?" Kazu perked up at this notion.

"Oh~ great idea!" he said. "In fact, I'll play with you!"

Seijuro shuffled over and made room for him on the piano chair. Kazu then took the book and flipped to the table of contents before pointing at one page number with excitement.

"Let's try this one," he said. Seijuro looked at the title and nodded.

"Let's begin."

And so they did, playing through the entire book until they finished the last song, which happened to be 'He's a Pirate' from the Pirates of the Caribbean film, before finally stopping. When they finished playing and the man stood up from the chair, he waved Seijuro goodbye and said that he'll see him next time. Seijuro furrowed his brow in bewilderment and ran after him, catching up to him before he exited the shop.

"Wait! What do you mean next time?" Seijuro asked. Kazu stopped in his tracks and flashed him a toothy grin.

"Why, next Sunday of course!"

With that, the bell above the shop entrance rang, and the man was gone, leaving Seijuro to stare after him clutching the piano book in his hands. The employee behind the front desk saw the book in his hand and pointed toward it with a pencil in his hand.

"Ah, is that the book you chose?" Seijuro looked down at it as his eyes softened slightly.

"Yes, yes it is."

When he came home that afternoon holding a music book, Chihiro read the front cover and asked him what compelled him to buy a book like that, and he merely smiled and said that it's nice to explore things a little before going past him and up the stairs to his room.

And that was how Seijuro made a friend through a chance conversation, and a book of Disney classics.

~O~

It was like a weekly routine for them. Every Sunday, Seijuro would come into the music store and wait for Kazu to appear in the piano section. Once he arrived and they exchanged a few words, Kazu would go to the shelf, pick out a music book, sit down next to Seijuro, and together they would play through the entire thing. Sometimes, Kazu even went to the other instruments and began doing demonstrations for Seijuro to show him what he could play. And every time they finished, Kazu would stand up, stretch his legs, and wave him goodbye, always ending their meeting with the words "See you next Sunday!" And they would leave it there, Kazu exiting the store first and Seijuro staring after him, sometimes staying behind to buy the book they were playing through and other times not, thanking the kind man at the front desk for letting them use the store's piano and then taking his leave shortly after. It wasn't until their sixth meeting when Seijuro came into the store and was surprised to find that it was Kazu waiting for him this time, and not the other way around like it usually was.

"Ah, good afternoon, Kazu-san," Seijuro greeted. "You are earlier than usual."

"I am indeed," the young musician said, crossing his legs as he eyed the red-haired boy in front of him. "I was in the area, so I decided to come before our usual time." Seijuro nodded in understanding.

"I see." He reached over to the books on the shelf. "Then, if you're already sitting down, shall I pick what we'll play today?"

"Actually…today we're gonna do something different." Seijuro's hand halted and fell at his side, tilting his head slightly in confusion.

"Different?"

"Yes, different, I'd like to show you something." Kazu patted the space next to him on the piano stool. "Come. Sit here."

Seijuro walked over to the piano and sat down on their shared stool. He looked up at Kazu expectantly, wondering what he would want to show him. Without anything else said, Kazu's fingers crashed down onto the piano keys, striking a minor chord, and making Seijuro jolt in surprise at the sudden movement. From there, he went into a melody of his own. Seijuro had a hard time describing the sound. It was _indescribable_. It wasn't exactly sombre like he would expect, but there was this aggressive, almost angry tone to it, fingers repeatedly slamming the keys. The piece was loud, for one thing. It made the atmosphere thick and heavy as it went on. For some reason, this piece was also quick in tempo. Seijuro wondered why that was. Before he could dwell on it any further, the song suddenly slowed dramatically in pace and there was a short lull. Then, slowly, the man's fingers danced across the keys as the melody transitioned from fast paced and aggressive, to normal pace but insistently calm. The minor chords soon became major it went from fortissimo to mezzo piano; it was like Seijuro was listening to a completely different song. That feeling in the air disappeared and Seijuro felt himself relax a little. The volume level rose and fell, the notes becoming gradually happier, if that was the word for it. The song was now cheerful, completely different to the first half, it was crazy the way this man interchanged between the two halves of this whole song. Then, before Seijuro knew it, the piece had ended with a high C-chord. Kazu sighed and leaned back from the piano, stretching his fingers a bit before turning to Seijuro.

"So, how was that?"

"That was…amazing," he breathed, still staring down at the keys his fingers were once upon. "It's probably one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. The composer of this song must be very talented."

"Why thank you, I'm flattered by your kind words." Seijuro gaped at Kazu with wide eyes.

" _You_ wrote this?" Kazu puffed out his chest proudly.

"I sure did," he said affirmatively. "I'm getting somewhere with this, but it's a bit rough around the edges…"

"What is it called?"

"What?"

"Your piece. What is it called?" Kazu looked down at the piano keys as his face took on a more neutral expression.

"Metamorphosis." The title fit the song well. Seijuro couldn't imagine a better name for this transitioning piece. Which brought up another topic of discussion…

"Why don't you perform this?" Kazu quirked a brow upwards as he stared at the redhead.

"Perform?" he repeated. Seijuro nodded vigorously.

"Yes, perform," he said. "It's an amazing piece and I'm sure people would love it."

"Thanks," Kazu said gratefully "I'd love to perform this. I've been trying for ages, actually, but getting a gig isn't as easy as ABC…" He abruptly shot up out of nowhere, looking as if what he just said reminded him of something.

"Wait!" he shouted. "I should replace the C with a D in measures five through ten!" He stood up and began to rush towards the door. Meanwhile Seijuro was quite stunned himself.

"Kazu-san! Where are you going?"

"To write down this idea on paper before I lose it!" he called from the outside. "Sorry I've cut our meeting short this week, but I'll see you next Sunday!"

With that, he waved and ran out the door and towards the train station. Seijuro blinked as he watched his retreating figure in the distance before shrugging and leaving in the opposite direction.

~O~

It had been three weeks since Kazu had shown him his composition. In that time Seijuro had asked Kazu to teach him how to play the composition he created. The man was more than delighted to hear that someone actually liked his piece that much and so from then on, instead of going through their usual routine, he would tutor Seijuro, guiding him through the chords like a music teacher. He was altering bits of it while Seijuro was under his tutelage so sometimes Seijuro would have to relearn some measures, but he didn't mind at all. It was on another Sunday when they were taking a short break that Seijuro began to talk.

"So, did you finish your alterations of your composition?" Seijuro asked. Kazu nodded as he watched Seijuro play Prelude in C major.

"Yes, I did," he said. "It's also not the only thing I managed to do." Seijuro's fingers pressed down a chord and let them linger there for a bit before continuing on with the song.

"Is that so?" Seijuro said. "What else did you do?" The musician smirked triumphantly.

"I finally got a scheduled performance." The redhead immediately halted the song he was playing and faced him with excitement.

"You did?" said Seijuro "Kazu-san, that's great!"

"Right~? Finally, after all this time!"

"Are you going to perform that piece that you wrote?"

"Yes! I am," he said. "My friend is going to be playing this with me. What I played on the piano and what I'm teaching you now is only my part. The part of the song that my friend will play are the base notes, which I have inconveniently left at home so I can't show you the composition now but—well, you get the gist."

"I see. When are you performing?"

"Ah…" Kazu looked up to the ceiling as he considered the answer to this question. "Eight o'clock on Friday at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan."

"Ah, that really popular concert hall?"

"Precisely." He put a hand on Seijuro shoulder and gazed at him with a pleading expression. "You'll come, won't you?"

"Of course I will," Seijuro looked off to the side as he rested his chin on the knuckles of his hand. "As long as Chihiro-nii-san says yes, that is…" he mumbled to himself.

"Oh? You have an older brother?"

"Yes. Four, actually."

"Splendid! Bring them as well! I'll give them a great performance!"

"I'll be sure to bring them."

"But of course! Now, let's get back to the song." He continued assisting Seijuro with the piece until it was late afternoon and he then rose up, brushed himself off and strode out of the store, this time ending their usual meeting with the words of "See you on Thursday!" Seijuro watched him go and thanked the man at the front desk like he usually did before running back home, bursting through the door and lunging at Chihiro to ask the pressing question on his mind.

~O~

It was finally Friday evening at last and the time came for Kazu's performance at the concert hall in Tokyo. Seijuro has pleaded with his brother to go to the event, and he eventually accepted, wondering why Seijuro wanted to go so badly to that certain performance when they had concert on other days at other times and also wondering why he seemed so eager. So the five of them took the train and arrived there a little past seven-thirty, getting to the hall ahead of schedule. They entered through the doors and stood around the foyer.

"So, this is Tokyo Bunka Kaikan…" Chihiro said reflectively. Reo stared in awe at the breath-taking architecture of the building.

"My, my, it's absolutely gorgeous in here~!" Reo exclaimed cheerfully as he examined the newly refurbished structure. Many lights dotted the ceilings like stars dotted the night sky, the large stone pillars and silvery railing giving the building a more modern look. There were quite a few people that night, so it was relatively crowded at the entrance. Kotarou looked around the room excitedly.

"Ne, ne, where's the friend you were talking about, Sei?" he asked as he tried to locate the person his younger brother was looking for, despite having no idea what he looks like. Regardless, Seijuro looked around as well, eyes scanning the crowd for that familiar tuft of brown hair.

"He should be around here somewhere…" he said. Suddenly, he found who he was looking for. The young musician was standing by the entrance to the main hall, looking at his watch impassively to kill time. He was wearing a black suit and his hair was styled to look less tousled like it usually was, but it was easy to pick him out from the large group of people passing by. Seijuro ran over to him and waved.

"Kazu-san!" he called out. Kazu looked up from his watch and his eyes lit up upon seeing the red-haired boy running over to greet him.

"Ah, Seijuro!" he said as the teenager came to a stop in front of him. "How's my student doing?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

Meanwhile the four brothers just stood in shock. _This_ was Seijuro's friend?

"Oi, Chihiro," Eikichi whispered "is it me, or were you expecting someone who was, y'know, younger?"

"Oh believe me, I was thinking the same exact thing. This dude's probably even older than me."

"Should we go over and say hi?" Reo asked. Chihiro sighed and stared at the man that Seijuro was talking with.

"Well, it's weird that Seijuro would make a friend with such an age gap between them but…I can usually trust his judgement so I suppose it's alright." With that, they walked over to the two.

"So, this is your friend, Seijuro?" After the lively conversation, Seijuro turned to Chihiro and nodded.

"Yes, this is my friend that I met at the music shop. He's performing his piece here." He turned back to the musician and made a gesture towards his four older siblings. "These are my brothers." The four of them spared no extra time in telling him their names.

"Kotarou."

"Eikichi."

"Reo."

"Chihiro."

The man nodded as he took in all the new names. "I see!" he said. "Nice to meet all of you." He held out a hand towards Chihiro and the grey-haired teenager politely accepted it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you…er…"

"Kazuki. Haruno Kazuki is my name. Kazu is just fine though."

"Right. Kazu. So the reason why Seijuro's always runs out of the house in such a hurry on Sunday afternoons for weeks on end must be so he can visit you in the music shop, correct?"

"Yes, we tend to play a lot of piano there. I even taught him how to play the piece I'm performing tonight with my friend."

"Your friend?" Chihiro echoed. He look left and right but didn't find anyone who looked like they knew this man, so he arched an eyebrow as he stared at Kazu in confusion.

"I'm sorry, but where is your friend? Is he around here somewhere?" Kazu sighed.

"I would hope so, but he's not here yet and so I'm waiting for him."

"I see. Well it was nice meeting you, but we should probably get to our seats, we're sitting in the front row. Seijuro do you want to meet us there when you're done?"

"Yes, I'll meet you all there." He waved to his brothers as they entered the hall and when they were gone his focus was back on Kazu. He was just about to say something as well, had it not been for Kazu's cell phone ringing. Startled, the young musician politely excused himself before walking some distance away and answering it while Seijuro stayed where he was. Seijuro was watching him on his phone call as he waited, observing the fact that it started out slightly panicked, the man frantically asking the person on the other line where they were. Seijuro deduced it to be the friend that was supposed to perform with him tonight, since he doubted he'd be asking anyone else this question. From panicked, he went to absolutely freaked out as Kazu let out an animated form of exclamation (a loud one at that) as he said something that Seijuro couldn't make out, making erratic gestures with his free hand and pacing back and forth. When the call cut, Kazu came back over to Seijuro, looking rather worried.

"Kazu-san, is something the matter?" Seijuro said. Kazu let out a nervous sigh.

"Yes, something does appear to be the matter. It seems that my friend's car broke down on the way here and he's almost an hour away, and the performance is due to start in twenty minutes..." Seijuro was horrified. This was definitely what they would call a 'worst-case scenario'. How can an unfortunate event such as this occur on such an important night? And Kazu had been trying so hard to land a performance, it just didn't seem fair for this to happen to him now, at his debut. Thanks a lot, Murphy's Law.

"There isn't anything you can do?" Seijuro asked, trying to see if maybe he could help. Kazu shook his head slowly, the usual smile that was eternally fixed upon his face now falling into a distraught frown. Suddenly a man in a tuxedo approached the two.

"Would you be Haruno-kun?" he said, looking at the well-dressed musician as he held tight to a clipboard and pen in his hands. Kazu turned towards the man.

"Yes, that would be me," he said.

"Perfect," the man quipped. "You're needed backstage. Your performance is coming up soon so it's required you're there." He looked around Kazu in expectancy.

"You said you were performing with someone else tonight?" the man questioned. "Where is he? I need him to be backstage as well." Kazu fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Uh…well…" His eyes fell onto Seijuro and suddenly his downcast blue eyes suddenly sparkled in realization. He unexpectedly grabbed Seijuro by the sleeve and pulled the redhead next to him, ignoring the surprised look on his face.

"He's right here!" Kazu said with a nervous laugh. The man raised an eyebrow at his strange behaviour but otherwise showed no sign of protest as he turned around and beckoned the two in the direction he was going in.

"Come, you two," he said "This is the way backstage." Kazu nodded and pulled Seijuro along as they followed the man. Seijuro on the other hand had no idea what Kazu was up to and tugged on his shirt to get his attention.

"Kazu-san," he whispered "why are you taking me backstage?" The young musician looked down at him before putting a finger to his lips.

"Stay quiet for now," he whispered back "I'll explain later." Seijuro nodded and kept up with him, walking behind the tuxedo wearing man to backstage.

When they arrived backstage, the man excused himself and went on his merry way, leaving Kazu and Seijuro by themselves.

"Kazu-san, is there a reason you brought me back here?" he asked. "It's nearly eight o'clock. Have you figured out what you're going to do?" Kazu exhaled shakily and cast his gaze towards Seijuro.

"Listen," he said, sounding uncharacteristically solemn "I have a really big favour to ask of you." Seijuro blinked and stared at the man.

"A favour?" he said? Kazu nodded.

"I'm going to need you to play with me tonight." Seijuro's mouth parted slightly as he gaped at him with wide eyes.

"You want me to play?" he asked incredulously.

"I've already taught you how to play my part. So you can help me with that."

"But what about the part that you didn't teach me?"

"I'll play that myself."

"Do you know how to play it?"

"It'd be concerning if I didn't considering the fact that I wrote it." The redhead was still quite uncertain about the whole thing. Kazu wanted him, Seijuro, to play in front of a hall that seats over two thousand people. And his brothers didn't even know where he was either.

"Are you sure…?" Kazu clasped his hands on Seijuro's shoulders and looked at him directly in the eye.

"Seijuro, I've taught you my entire part and you play it wonderfully. Right now, I need you to put that into practice and help me out please. I'm sorry to put you in the spotlight like this, but I really need your help." It took a few moments for Seijuro to consider this, but he understood. He came to Tokyo to see a performance; and if Kazu didn't have someone to play alongside him on the piano, there would be no performance and the journey, not to mention his lovely composition, would all be for nothing. He nodded and smiled.

"Alright, I'll try my best, Kazu-san," he said. Kazu smiled and nearly hugged the boy, saying thank you about thirty times while fighting the urge to jump up and down excitedly. He just hoped his plan would work. His thoughts were interrupted by Seijuro's phone ringing and the redhead had to excuse himself this time to answer it, inwardly grimacing when he saw Reo's name pop up on the caller ID as he tried to figure out what he was going to say. He pressed the green answer button and timidly put the phone up to his ear.

"…Hello?"

"Sei-chan?" his brother said.

"Ah, Reo-nii-san…" Seijuro said with a deliberate slowness "Is there something you need?"

"Where are you?" Reo questioned. "We sent Kotarou and Eikichi out to look for you but they said you were nowhere in sight. Did something happen?"

"No."

Are you lost?"

"No."

"Then what on earth happened?"

"Um…" Seijuro shot a panicked look towards Kazu, who just shrugged because he didn't know what to say either. So Seijuro just said something really vague instead to buy him some time.

"You know, actually, there was uh…something I had to take care of, so I'll be coming in a little later."

"Eh?"

"Bye!"

He hastily ended the call and put his phone on silent before locking the screen and putting it in his pocket. With that, he looked towards Kazu in anticipation.

"Are you ready?"

Kazu took a deep breath.

"Let the show commence."

…

Reo stared at his phone as the caller screen disappeared and the line cut off. To be honest, he never expected Seijuro to hang up on him. And why was he acting so strangely? Not to mention, nobody out of the four of them had a single clue as to where he was and they were starting to get worried.

"What did he say?" Chihiro asked as Reo put his phone back in his bag. The black-haired teenager shrugged, still trying to register what happened.

"I don't…really know," Reo began. "Sei-chan said he had something to take care of and that he'll come a little later, then he just hung up on me."

"What?"

"Exactly. It makes no sense."

"Why is he the one coming later?" Chihiro asked. "He was the one who was most excited about seeing the performance."

"Well it can't be helped. I guess Sei-chan will just have to miss a bit of the first part."

A man came onto the stage and cleared his throat on the microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he announced "I'd like to thank you all for coming to this performance tonight. It's an honour to have so many people fill up the seats in this concert hall. For today, we have a very special performance for you. It is the upcoming artist who, in these recent weeks, has composed a piece titled 'Metamorphosis'. Please welcome out onto stage and please welcome—"

A woman ran out onto the stage just as the man was about to introduce the people performing, whispering something urgent to the announcer before quickly running off the platform, and going backstage. The man cleared his throat awkwardly and started again.

"There's been a change in performers, it seems," the man said. "But worry not, the show will continue. So please welcome to the stage, Haruno Kazuki and Seijuro."

Four mouths flew open in unison as the announcer walked offstage and through another exit.

"What did he just say?" Chihiro asked as the crowd applauded.

"I'm pretty sure he said that Sei was going to be performing," Kotarou said.

"Maybe that dude said the wrong name," said Eikichi.

"No, I'm pretty sure he said the correct name," Reo said. "This is the thing that Sei-chan had to take care of?"

Kazu and Seijuro walked onstage and bowed to the audience before taking a seat on the piano stool. The sheet music was there on the stand, the piano was in tune, they had nothing they should be worrying about; they just had to trust their own talents. Well, Seijuro learned that music is all about exploration, but he never imagined it would take him this far. Nevertheless, Seijuro started them off by striking that familiar minor chord.

Soon they were off, Seijuro flying past the notes as he went into the fast tempo of the song. The tension that he once felt in the past when he heard the piece the first time was now radiating from the piano, filling the air in the hall with its aggressive nature. Kazu followed soon after and began with the base chords. Seijuro had never heard what they sounded like so he was almost hypnotized when he heard that first chord being sounded out. He could feel the music's vibrations in his chest and it filled his very being with its presence. The chords went banging on, going back and forth from forte to fortissimo like the persistent sound of a drum, never giving you a moment's rest. It made quite a few people in the audience lean forward in their seats. They continued on for some time like this, until they slowed the pace and reached the lull in the song, their fingers lingering on the last of the minor chords. Then, from there, they transitioned. Transitioned to a part of the song that was completely different from the last part. Seijuro's hands flew to the beginning major chord and delicately started off. The tempo evened out and the volume dropped down to mezzo forte. Suddenly the piece was much lighter, and the people who were leaning forward in their seats were now relaxing and sitting back. The tension dispersed, and the concert hall was filled with cheerier music. Seijuro and Kazu were playing in perfect harmony, like two halves blending together, creating the perfect atmosphere. Kazu's accompaniment made the song ten times better, and Seijuro wished he could have heard it sooner. It was beautiful and it really felt like a real piece. They were reaching the climax. The notes went higher and higher, the volume getting louder and louder and all Seijuro had to do was reach the chord he was striving for. There it was, that high C. He struck it down and Kazu concluded as well, pressing down on his last chord. When the music was gone, it was silent for a few moments. Then, loud, enthusiastic clapping filled the halls to replace the music, the audience cheering loud as ever. Kazu and Seijuro exchanged a look before standing up from the piano stool, walking to centre stage and bowing to the crowd of two thousand people.

"I can't believe he just did that," Kotarou said from his seat.

"That was so beautiful~!" Reo cried. "Sei-chan was amazing!"

"I guess that Kazu guy taught him well," Eikichi grunted, clapping his together as he eyed the young musician. Chihiro nodded in agreement, watching the two exit backstage. Seijuro tended to get himself into the strangest of predicaments, didn't he?

…

Outside the main hall and in the foyer, Seijuro stood with Kazu as people congratulated them on their lovely performance.

"Sei, there you are!"

Seijuro turned and found Kotarou and the others approaching them.

"Hello," he said.

"Hello?" Chihiro said. "You run off twenty minutes before the concert only for you to be one of the performers and all you say is 'Hello'?" A guilty smile and a small shrug is the most he can offer to the grey-haired teenager. Chihiro just sighed and ruffled his fiery red hair. "You're lucky you played well," he muttered. Kazu turned towards Seijuro once more.

"I'd like to thank you once again for helping me out," he said. "I literally couldn't do it without you."

"It was no problem really," Seijuro responded. "I was merely just helping a friend." Kazu laughed and let a wide grin slip across his face. Chihiro idly looked at his watch.

"Well, it's getting late and we have a long way to go from here. We'll need to start making our way to the train station." He nodded once towards Kazu. "It was nice meeting you. Good luck with your performances." Kazu nodded back.

"Much obliged."

"Come on Seijuro, say your goodbyes."

Seijuro waved towards the young man.

"Bye Kazu-san, it was nice performing with you tonight." Kazu waved towards the retreating group energetically.

"Goodbye everyone, thanks for coming!" he said. They were just about to open the door to the outside before they heard someone shout.

"Wait, Seijuro!"

Seijuro turned around and stared back at Kazu with questioning eyes.

"See you on Sunday?" he asked. Seijuro's lips curled upwards into a smile.

"I wouldn't miss it for anything."

* * *

 **Read and review please!**


	16. Getting rekt is not what I had in mind

**I have returned! How may days has it been? Only three? I've outdone myself, especially since this chapter, excluding the blurb, is fifty one words away from being eight thousand words (I REGRET NOTHING). Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, I had so much fun writing it. But yeah damn, only three days and eight thousand words, I'm on bloody fire! I'm like the fanfic fairy soooo*casually throws fairy dust in your general direction* Enjoy!**

* * *

Getting rekt is not what I had in mind

Reo, Kotarou, Eikichi and Chihiro were at home one day after school. They had just returned from the grocery store, and so they were putting everything away, leaving some stuff out to use for dinner. Everything was as normal, as normal as any other day would be; that is until Seijuro came through the door after a student council meeting and put his things down at the front, staring at some piece of paper in his hands with narrowed eyes.

"Welcome back," Chihiro called from the kitchen. Seijuro just nodded and made his way towards the four, looking like he was still trying to make sense of what was on the paper in front of him.

"Oi, chibi, why do you look so lost?" Eikichi asked.

"Ah, it's nothing really," he said, not even bothering to look his older brother in the eyes. "It's just that…"

"Just what?" Kotarou instigated. Seijuro flipped the sheet of paper over and allowed his older brothers to read what was on it.

"It seems I've been invited to a party."

"EHHHHH?!" The four brothers all screamed in unison as they made a grab for the invitation in his hand.

"How did you get this?" Eikichi asked. Seijuro looked off to the side as he recalled the memory.

"Well, it sort of went like this…"

…

"Oi, Seijuro!"

The redhead turned around on his way out of the classroom to find one of his classmates running towards him.

"Ah, Masato-kun," said Seijuro. "Is something the matter?" The boy caught up to him, panting heavily.

"I came to give you something," he heaved, finally catching the last of his breath. He handed Seijuro a piece of paper and he accepted it, reading what was on it.

"A party invitation?" he asked. "Is it someone's birthday?"

"Nah, Seiji's having a house party on Friday. Everyone in the class is invited, and I was just helping hand out invitations for him" he said, making excited gestures here and there.

"I see…"

"I'm going for sure! Are you going to go?" Seijuro looked at the invitation, and then back at his classmate.

"I'll think about it," he concluded. It seemed to be a good enough answer for Masato, because he nodded and began to go elsewhere, probably to give out more invitations, waving to Seijuro as he ran off.

"Then hopefully I'll see you on Friday!"

…

"And that's how I came by the invitation."

Everyone was still ogling at the thing when he was done speaking, absolutely amazed at the prospect of Seijuro going to a party.

"Sei-chan was invited to a party?"

"I don't believe this."

"I didn't know Sei went to parties."

"So even Seijuro gets invited places…"

"Oi, I'm not _that_ detached from the rest of society you know," Seijuro deadpanned, snatching the paper back from the four. "Why are you so surprised that I've been invited somewhere?" The response to the question is four stares. Seijuro blinks.

"What is it?"

"Well…" Reo began "We never imagined you to be a…how do I say this, 'party' sort of person."

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what you think he means," Chihiro responded.

"To be honest, I can't imagine you going to parties Sei," said Kotarou, Eikichi nodding with him in agreement. Seijuro could barely believe his ears.

"So…you guys think that I'm not a fun person? Is that it?"

From that he got many half-baked answers, most of them starting out as 'It's not that we think you're boring' and then going into some vague explanation, not really making the matter any better. He couldn't believe his own brothers thought that he couldn't have fun. It's not like he didn't go out of the house and it's not like he didn't hang out with people. Okay, well, to be fair, most of the time it was his cousins he hung out with and not classmates but that still counted as going out right? In fact why is _he_ being targeted when everyone knows that out of the four of them, Chihiro is in no position to even do as much as think about ridiculing someone else's social life when he has no type of attachment towards anyone who isn't in his immediate or extended family. Compared to Chihiro, Seijuro would seem like a total extrovert (unless of course you took Chihiro to a convention where he would socialize with other weebs like him who thought that Ringo-tan from 'A Clockwork Apple, Honey and a Little Sister' was the ultimate waifu but that's a different topic altogether). But of course, let's just ignore Chihiro and attack the youngest brother; that seems fair. He rolled his eyes.

"Well, if that's the way you feel then maybe I should just not go, since I'm so boring."

"No! Go to the party!" Reo exclaimed. "Go socialize with your age-mates!"

"Alright, alright, I'll go."

"Ne, when is the party anyway?" Seijuro looked back at the date.

"On Friday at seven o'clock in the evening and it ends at midnight," he read off the sheet of paper.

"Well then let's hope the party's worthwhile." Seijuro nodded.

"I would hope so."

~O~

For the upcoming days after that, Seijuro wondered what this party was going to be like. He hadn't had much experience with that type of event, because, in all honesty, they weren't really up his alley. He's definitely had a couple with the other GoM, but it's different when you hang out with family compared to when you hang out with people you know less about. Time soon caught up to him and it was six o'clock in the evening on the day of the party, and Seijuro was sat down on the bed in his room. Reo had insisted on picking out what Seijuro was going to wear. When Seijuro said he was going to go pick out his clothes for this party, Reo responded with something along the lines of 'Do you even know what to wear to a party?' In all honesty, the he didn't think that Reo was going to even let him pick out his own clothes from the very beginning. While this may be true, Reo did have the most fashion sense out of the five so it would have been wiser to let him do it anyway. At that moment, Reo was rummaging through Seijuro's closet, trying to look for something nice for him to wear. Seijuro was watching him, Kotarou also sitting next to him on the bed after coming in to see what they were doing.

"Hmm…not this one," Reo mumbled to himself as he put a shirt back and decided to search for a different one. Kotarou and Seijuro exchanged looks as they continued to watch their brother dig through Seijuro's wardrobe, who always felt the need to mutter the reason why he's putting it back in the closet: too fancy, too plain, not the right colour, it was always something.

"Reo-nii-san," Seijuro began. "I understand that I need to look nice for the party, but is it necessary that you go through every single article of clothing that I own?"

"Of course it's necessary!" Reo cried from the recesses of his closet. "You need to check all your options to know which one is the best choice. It seems I need to give you another lesson on fashion."

"Ah…no…that won't be needed," Seijuro said awkwardly. He remembers the last lesson he had about fashion lasted over an hour because Reo got carried away. Not that he remembered much, all he remembered was Reo scolding him afterwards because he accidentally fell asleep halfway through.

"By the way," Seijuro came out of his thoughts to find Reo was speaking to him again.

"You haven't been to many parties with your classmates. Do you know what to do at parties?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"What to do at parties," Kotarou repeated. "Y'know, like party vibes and stuff."

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand."

"Let me explain," said Kotarou, before clearing his throat loudly. "When you go to a party, you gotta talk to people and make conversation. You can't go sit in a corner and not say anything, am I right? For example, do you know any jokes?" Reo snorted.

"Do you really need to ask to know the answer?" he said, amused that Kotarou would even say such a question. Seijuro pouted slightly.

"I could probably be funny if I wanted to," he grumbled. Reo laughed and patted his head.

"Ahaha, I was just teasing, Sei-chan," he said. "I'm sure you could be funny if you wanted to be. But now that I think about it, _do_ you know any jokes?" Seijuro blanked on that one. He honestly had no need to learn any, since telling jokes wasn't his forte. Well, actually, he might know a few. He remembered some from that one time he watched Rakuzan and Seirin High have a practice match, and the black-haired Point Guard would always make some type of weird pun before their glasses-wearing captain would yell a variation of the phrase 'IZUKI SHUT UP' and throw a basketball at his head. He doubted that would help him in this situation though. Worst-case scenario, he ends up with the same fate as that poor Point Guard, a basketball to the head, and a growing bump to match. No thank you.

"Well, maybe I could get through with just normal conversation," Seijuro suggested.

"Hmm…maybe so," Kotarou said thoughtfully. "Also another thing, at parties, there is most definitely gonna be music, you don't dance much, do you Sei?" Seijuro had never been much of dancer, like, at all. He was quite current with which songs were new and which were popular, et cetera, but God forbid if someone were to ask him to dance…

"I'm not a dancer," Seijuro stated. He wasn't even going to even pretend like he could, he knew that would only lead to disaster.

"Ara, I think I've found something," Reo quipped. He brought out a set of clothes and a pair of shoes and handed them to the redhead.

"Here, wear this."

Seijuro took the clothes from his brother and went to the bathroom to go change. The outfit that Reo chose for Seijuro to wear was simple, yet effective. It was nice enough to wear to a casual party, but not too fancy where you'd go there feeling overdressed. Seijuro didn't understand why it took Reo fifteen whole minutes of searching through his assortment of clothes to come up with it but if that's what he chose, then he shouldn't argue. He began to dress. Once it had been about five minutes, Reo knocked on the door.

"Sei-chan, are you done?"

The bathroom door opened and Seijuro came out fully dressed. He was wearing a short-sleeved collared azure blue shirt, a pair of black jeans (along with a black belt with a silver buckle), and some black lace-up boots. Reo was right, it really did fit the 'simple yet effective' title.

"How is it?" Seijuro asked, staring uncertainly down at the clothes he was wearing. Reo looked him up and down, turned him around, and examined him some more, decidedly fixing his collar and taking two black bangles from his table and sliding them onto his wrist. When he was done, he nodded to himself in satisfaction.

"Perfect!" he said. "Kotarou, what do you think?"

"Woahhh he looks so cool," Kotarou said in awe. "Amazing Reo-nee!"

"Hmph, but of course," Reo huffed smugly. "I expected nothing less. Sei-chan, come sit down so I can fix your hair." The redhead obliged, taking the chair from his desk and setting down in front of the bathroom mirror, where he took his seat.

"So, you're excited, right?" Reo asked. Seijuro just gave a shrug.

"To be honest, I don't really know my classmates all that well, so I don't know what to expect from this party. I can't really tell if I'm excited."

"Oh come on, you must be excited for something," Reo prodded. He thought.

"I guess it might be nice to know them a bit better," he said after a moment's silence.

"Good, good. Keep that in mind."

Kotarou shuffled into the bathroom and popped up next to Reo.

"Reo-nee~, I got the hairbrush," he drawled. Reo took it from him and went to work.

"Okay then, let's get to it."

From there they spent another five minutes smoothing down Seijuro's red mass of hair with the brush and fixing anything that might be sticking out, the usual basically. Kotarou helped out as well, since he was so keen on it. By the time they were done, it was thirty-five minutes to the party. He was at the door, putting a jacket on, while his brothers were standing there with him, waiting to send him off.

"So you know the address right?" Chihiro said as he watched Seijuro get his things together.

"Yes, it's only a short distance away from the station," Seijuro responded, fixing his shirt once more. "And I have the invitation with me in case I forget."

"You have money to get back?"

"Yes."

"Do you have your cell phone?"

"Yes. It's in my pocket." After going through the usual checklist, Chihiro seemed satisfied enough, so he let him be.

"Alright then, I'll let you go." Seijuro nodded and headed out the front door.

"Bye Sei-chan~! Have fun!" Reo called from the house. Seijuro waved back at his brothers.

"Goodbye, I'll see you later."

~O~

Stepping off the platform at around twenty past seven, Seijuro made his way out of the station, in search of the house that this party is going to be held in. It didn't take him too long to find it after all, it was only a short distance away from the station. When he finally reached the house he was looking for, he just took a moment size it up. It was a relatively spacious house, probably as big as his own, with balloons tied to the mailbox to indicate to whoever passed by that it was that particular house which was holding a party. He took a deep breath and walked up to the front door, lifting his hand to the doorbell and pressing the button, listening to the ringing sound resonate through the building inside as he waited. Soon, he heard hurried footsteps run to the door and fiddle with the lock before the door handle twisted and the door flew open to reveal a black-haired boy wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

"Ah, Seijuro! You decided to come!" the person at the door exclaimed.

"I did," Seijuro responded. "Thank you for inviting me, Seiji-kun."

"No problem at all, come on in!"

Seijuro took his shoes off at the entrance and stepped inside the house, following behind Seiji as he led him to the living room, where he could hear quite a few people chatting amongst themselves. It seemed that some people had arrived quite early on. Seiji entered the room, Seijuro coming in after waving to the large group of people inside.

"Hey guys, Seijuro's here," he said. Eyes flew to the redhead standing by the living room entrance as he gave a small wave to his classmates.

"Hello," he said casually. Everyone waved back and said their own greetings, comments flying about at how it was surprising that he actually decided to come along. Well, it seemed it wasn't just his brothers who thought he wasn't much of a party person. All the more reason to try and socialize with his classmates, to show them that he could be just as normal as any other kid in his class.

"So, we're still waiting on a few people to come by," said Seiji "so when everyone's here, that's when we'll do something fun." Suddenly the doorbell rang and the party host perked up.

"Ah, someone else is here. I'll go take care of that, snacks and drinks are over there on the table," he paused to make a vague gesture over to the table he was referring to. "For now, you can just stand around and chat." He then disappeared to go and answer the door.

Seijuro walked over to the table and got himself a cup of soda, sitting himself down on one of the nearby chairs. Taking a sip, he idly looked around the room at the vast array of people sitting around and chatting. Kotarou did say that he should make conversation, but what was he to talk about? He doesn't know people well enough to the point where he could just butt into anyone's conversation. And it's not like he knew anything funny to say. How was he supposed to start a conversation anyway? Should he just go up to someone and say hi? Or should he wait? His gaze was cast to the floor in thought. Maybe he wasn't cut out for small talk.

"Hey, what's up?"

A pair of red eyes looked up. Someone was talking to him. A boy. More specifically, the one who gave him the invitation.

"Masato-kun…"

"Is anyone sitting there?" Masato asked, pointing to the chair next to him. Seijuro shook his head.

"No, please sit down," Seijuro replied, motioning to the chair as well, a small smile on his face, thanking the heavens that he didn't need to initiate a conversation by himself.

"You know I didn't think you'd come honestly," Masato admitted, adding a nervous laugh to what would have been an awkward topic starter. "It's nice that you've decided to stop by."

"You're right," Seijuro agreed. "It's a change of pace from my usual Fridays after coming home from basketball practice."

"Oh yeah, you're the vice-captain, aren't you? Is basketball any fun?" Seijuro thought about this for a moment before he answered.

"Yeah," he said. "It's nice to play basketball."

"Ehhh, really?" said Masato. "I would think it's really hard because of those really good basketball players that everyone talks about." Seijuro raised his eyebrows at the realization of who he was talking about.

"Are you referring to the 'Generation of Miracles'?"

"Did someone say Generation of Miracles?"

Seiji, and basically everyone else in the living room, joined the conversation at the mention of those famous group of basketball prodigies. Even if some students didn't play basketball, their names seemed to float around wherever they went. Also, since this is some people's first time seeing Seijuro at a party, they wanted to hear what he was talking about anyway.

"Yeah, we were talking about how hard it would be to try and beat them in a basketball match." Masato said.

"But it wouldn't be that hard for you, Seijuro," said Seiji. "After all, you're one of them, aren't you?"

"I have been branded with that name as well, yes."

"Aside from Seijuro, who else was in that group of monsters?" one boy asked.

"I think I remember," Masato said. "There was Kise Ryouta, Midorima Shintarou, Aomine Daiki, Murasakibara Atsushi and…who was that other guy again?"

"Eh? There was another one?"

"Ah, you must mean Tetsuya," Seijuro quipped. "Kuroko Tetsuya of Seirin. It's not really surprising when people forget his existence, since he does have a low presence after all. He's a different kind of 'monster', specializing in various passing techniques. Also there's Kagami Taiga, who is on-par with us as well, a real wild card if you ask me. He used to live in America for some time but now he's in Seirin with Tetsuya. Haizaki Shōgo is technically considered to be one of us, he's a bit of a troublemaker though. There's also Momoi Satsuki, she's really good at analysing data and making strategies."

"Woah, that's so cool."

"Cool indeed, it makes basketball matches much more enjoyable."

"I wish I knew them personally," one girl said. "Especially Ryouta-kun, the famous model. He's so cute!" Seijuro sweat-dropped at that.

"Ryouta's a bit of a player actually," he laughed. "Also he's lucky if he doesn't get attacked by all his fangirls every time we go out."

"Wait, 'we'? You mean you hang out with the Generation of Miracles too?!"

"Of course," Seijuro said. "We're all cousins after all."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

Seijuro nearly dropped his cup in surprise as everyone in the room screamed at the same exact time.

"You never told us you were _related_ to those people!" Seijuro blinked.

"You never asked."

Suddenly everyone was swarming all around him, practically bursting with questions.

"Ne, Seijuro, what's it like to hang out with them?" Seiji asked.

"Well, they're as normal as anyone in this room," said Seijuro. "It's not like we're aliens or anything. When we're playing basketball, maybe that's what people see us as, but outside of matches, we're just average people."

"Do you get along well?" Masato asked.

"We get along relatively well," said Seijuro. "Because of our conflicting personalities, we sometimes clash a bit, although that's nothing that Shuuzo-san can't help with."

"Shuuzo-san?"

"Wait, you don't happen to be talking about _the_ Shuuzo, right? As in Nijimura Shuuzo? As in the guy who was the number one Power Forward in his schooling days?"

"Yes, that's the one."

"And let me guess…you're cousins with him as well, aren't you?"

"That would be correct."

"I swear, you're related to all the famous basketball students in the country," Seiji groaned. "I'm officially envious."

"I feel you," said Masato. "I know they say that some things run in the family, but this is just ridiculous."

"What do you guys do when you get together anyway?" Seijuro hummed in thought as everyone waited for him to spill the details of his day-to-day life.

From there, Seijuro talked about all the times he would spend with all of his cousins. He talked about all the places they've been to during holidays, the streetball matches they like to set up from time to time, he even talked about their most recent escapades, reliving that time they spent the weekend they all stayed over and that final day where they played The King's Game in vivid detail, describing the humiliating tasks they were sent out to do. He was talking for a very, very long time, telling just about every story with them that he had under his belt.

"And then I had to convince the police officer not to take Daiki and Shōgo into custody after they went streaking down the street in their underwear and got mistaken for perverts."

Everyone in the room laughed at Seijuro's humorous tale as he sat in his chair and took another sip of his soda.

"You know," said Seiji. "I never thought you had so much fun with those guys. You're pretty cool."

Everyone in the room murmured in agreement, a delighted expression slipping onto Seijuro's face.

"Thank you very much," he said with a smile.

Seijuro was lucky. His first party with classmates was going well and now everyone wants to talk with him. It's not like he was entirely aiming for this to happen, but he feels good now that it did. Thank God he had cousins, especially the GoM. It made for good conversation and apparently people liked to hear stories about them. So it was true that people will talk to you more if you have stories to tell. Thank you Kotarou-nii-san. However, it was about two hours into the party when things began to…change…

"Yo, Seiji, are you gonna bring out the stuff?" Seijuro quirked a brow when one boy asked Seiji that question, wondering what on earth he could be talking about. Whatever it was, Seiji seemed to have caught on, because he snickered and gave the boy a sly grin.

"Of course I got it. I put it in the fridge before the party started."

"Go get it!"

"Roger!"

With that, Seiji disappeared into the hallways of his house, on the search for something that Seijuro didn't know about. While he was doing that, something else had slipped into his mind while he was pondering this.

"By the way, where are Seiji-kun's parents?" One girl turned around.

"You don't know?" she said. "Seiji's parent's went out of town today and won't be back until Sunday." He took a bit of time to process the information.

"I see," he said. Well, wasn't this awfully suspicious. A classic case of 'My parents aren't here so I'll take this opportunity to throw a party while they're gone'. And Seijuro would bet five thousand yen that this was done without their permission as well. Either that or it's one of those cases where he asked his parents if he could invite a few friends over and invited the whole class instead. Either way, it only spells a recipe for disaster. Not only that, but something else was bothering him. What did Seiji leave to go and get? What was the 'stuff' they were talking about?

"Got it!" Seiji called, coming back into the living room. Whatever he was carrying must've been heavy, because he was carrying them in bags. Seijuro could hear the loud clank of thick glass bottles over the rustling of the plastic bags. Now it was time to see what this so-called 'stuff' was. Seiji removed the contents from the bag and put them on the table and Seijuro was shocked to find out what it was. There, balanced in the centre of the coffee table, was five whole bottles of sake. Japanese alcohol.

"Um…we're going to be drinking this?" Seijuro said with uncertainty.

"Heck yeah we are!" Seiji exclaimed. "My parents are out of the house so it's the perfect time."

Seijuro looked around the room to see if anyone else was as mortified as he was. No one was, strangely enough. It's like this was the norm for everyone. Have they done this before or had everyone just lost their minds? Everyone was so nonchalant about it, Seijuro began to think that this is what they do at all their parties, drink their parents' alcohol while they're out of the house. Chihiro always taught him that drinking irresponsibly is bad and that he shouldn't take alcohol if it was given to him. So when Seiji brought him a cup of the intoxicating liquid, he held a hand up and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but I don't drink alcohol," he said. Seiji just laughed.

"Ah come on Seijuro, loosen up a bit! It's just a little sake." Seijuro still refused.

"It just doesn't seem right to me," Seijuro responded. "I don't care if you drink, since it's your life and not mine, but I really don't think I should participate in this sort of thing." Seiji made a disapproving face.

"Ehhh, you're no fun," he pouted. Again, Seijuro looked around the room at all the other people. All of his classmates, every single one of them, they were all drinking sake as if they've been doing it all their lives. He hadn't realized how many people were such a bad influence in his class. And still Seiji stood in front of him. What was his issue? Looking up at the party host again, his expression changed from disapproving to one of defeat.

"I suppose it can't be helped," he sighed. "If you want, there's this really nice fruity drink that my parents bought from Sweden when they went there on holiday. Would you like to try that instead?" Seijuro nodded.

"Yes please."

Seiji disappeared into the hallways once more and came back with a large glass filled with a clear liquid.

"Here you are," said Seiji. "I hope you like it."

"Thank you very much," Seijuro said, gratefully taking the cup as the party host walked away. He was focused so much on his drink that he didn't notice the small mischievous smile that slipped across Seiji's face as he turned in the other direction. The fruity scent of the seemingly harmless beverage permeated him nose as his lips touched the rim of the cup. Raspberry. Innocent enough. He tilted the cup upwards and took the first sip, the taste of pink fruit washing over his tastebuds as he revered in its sweet flavour. This drink was actually pretty good. So when he downed the thing in less than a minute and asked for a second glass, Seiji happily obliged; not bothering to tell the redhead what was actually in it.

~O~

Fast forward to almost two hours later, the four brothers are sitting and watching TV at home when Chihiro gets a call on his cell phone. He picks it up from the coffee table and checks the Caller ID, grunting in confusion when he saw whose name popped up on the screen.

"Who is it?" Kotarou asked.

"It's Seijuro."

"Eh? Sei-chan is calling?"

Chihiro picked up the phone and put it to his ear.

"Hello?" he said, waiting for his younger brother to respond. Instead, someone else's voice comes through the speaker instead.

"Ah, are you one of Seijuro-kun's brothers?" a girl asked. Listening to her voice, it sounded like she was slurring her words a bit and Chihiro couldn't tell whether she was doing this intentionally or not. He raised a brow.

"Yes, I am one of his brothers," he said, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "Who is this? What is the reason you're calling?"

"Pardon for the sudden phone call but…I think you should come pick him up."

"What? Why? I thought the party was ending in an hour. What's wrong with him?"

"Um…well…"

"Everything's so blurryyyy~!"

"What was that?" Chihiro asked. The girl didn't even answer, she was talking to whoever just interrupted their phone call on the other line. In fact, Chihiro was one hundred percent certain that he knew who interrupted them.

"Seijuro…?" he said. If that girl's speech was slurred, Seijuro's speech was barely understandable. Chihiro had to really listen in closely to hear what he was saying. What the hell was wrong with him?

"Shush! I'm calling your brother, sit still," the girl chided.

"Who are you?" Seijuro asked. Sounding more confused than he's ever been in his entire life.

"I'm your classmate, remember?"

"Like…in prison?"

"That's a cellmate, Seijuro-kun."

"So you're my cellmate?"

"I'm not—"

"I don't want to be in prison~."

"But—"

"What if the police arrest me?"

"But you're not—"

"You'll never take me alive!"

"No, don't run that way!"

Chihiro heard a loud thud on the ground accompanied by a really long moan. The girl sighed in exasperation and came back onto the phone.

"Don't freak out, but long story short, your brother is really drunk and he's absolutely lost it…Hehehe…"

"Drunk? He was drinking?"

"It wasn't his fault!" The girl retorted. "He said he didn't want to so Seiji-kun got him another drink. I don't know what was in it, but ever since then he's been like this." Chihiro pinched the bridge of his nose as he continued the phone call.

"Is he that bad?" he asked.

"I think it's better if you see for yourself, a lot of other people are in the same boat as him."

"Alright, alright, I'll come and get him. What's the address?"

After getting the address from the girl, he hurriedly thanked her and hung up the phone. He stood up from the couch and put his phone in his pocket.

"Oi, what's going on over there?" Eikichi asked. Everyone was listening in to their conversation, getting hooked after they heard all the commotion on the other line. Chihiro sighed.

"It seems Seijuro's drunk and now I have to pick him up."

"EH? Sei is drunk?"

"How is this possible?!" Reo cried. "Sei-chan's been tainted by alcohol!"

"I don't know," said Chihiro. "All I know is that I have to go get him. In case he shows any resistance in going home, Eikichi, you come with me." Eikichi nodded and stood up as well, following his brother towards the front door, where they put on their shoes.

"Alright," said Chihiro. "Let's go catch a taxi."

…

The two finally arrived at the alleged house, thanking the taxi driver for getting them there and telling him to park his car and wait as they went to go and retrieve their intoxicated brother. Of all things to happen at a middle school party, it had to be this? And where did they get the alcohol from anyway? Nevertheless, they reached the front door and rang the doorbell. Luckily, it seemed to be the girl who called them on the phone because she recognized them at the door and sighed in relief.

"Oh thank goodness you're here," she said. "We've had to end early since a lot of people were sick so they had to be sent home or they're spending the night if their house is too far away or no one can pick them up." Finally seeing what this girl looks like and scanning her up and down, he saw that she was a bit tipsy herself. Although she wasn't fully drunk as she was coherent with her sentences on the phone so Chihiro assumed she was the most sober out of all of them, and maybe the party host, wherever he was at the moment. Probably tending to others.

"Can you tell us where he is?" Chihiro said. She steadied herself first before she pointed a finger towards the living room, the two brothers going past her and inside the house. When they got into the living room, everyone was either passed out or barely conscious. Thankfully Seijuro was one of the barely conscious people, it would make it easier for them to leave, but he was an absolute mess. He was sprawled out on the couch, amongst other bodies, and he was staring blankly up at the ceiling in some kind of daze. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were glazed over, signifying that he was definitely under the influence of something, as if they didn't know that already. Chihiro and Eikichi exchanged looks before they went back to Seijuro. It was very unusual to see their brother in such an unstable and vulnerable state. This is the first time ever that he's gotten drunk, so seeing their younger brother like this was quite bizarre indeed. Chihiro walked over to the redhead and shook him.

"Oi, Seijuro, can you hear me?" Seijuro turned his head slightly to the left, where Chihiro's voice was coming from, and squinted his eyes, scrunching up his face in bewilderment as if he was making an effort to recognize who was speaking to him. After maybe five seconds, his features lit up slightly, figuring out who this person was, and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Chihiro-nii-san," he drawled. "Have you come to rescue me from the dragon?"

Okay, Chihiro was gonna pretend he didn't hear that. Oh who was he kidding? This is a nightmare. Seijuro was more than just drunk, he was totally wasted.

"Seijuro can you stand? We're going home." The boy snorted.

"Hah, of course I can stand," he scoffed. "I didn't win gold in the Olympics for nothing." He sat up and rose slowly from the couch, immediately falling down and crumpling into a heap on the floor. Chihiro bent down and tried shaking him again.

"Seijuro, are you okay?"

"When your legs don't work like they used to before~"

"Stop that."

Chihiro bit back yet another sigh. Deciding he had heard enough, he turned to Eikichi with a pained expression on his face.

"Please just carry him to the taxi I'm too tired for this," he muttered, trying to lift Seijuro back onto the couch to make it easier. Eikichi nodded and knelt down on the wooden floor.

"Oi, chibi, grab on," he said, waiting for Seijuro to climb onto his back. Instead the redhead merely tilted his head to the side, before looking up at Chihiro.

"Chihiro-nii-san, you didn't tell me you bought a talking gorilla."

"OI WHO ARE YOU CALLING A GORILLA?!"

"Hahaha, nice gorilla…do magic tricks."

"I'm not a circus act!"

"The gorilla is misbehaving, Chihiro-nii-san. You should take it back to the adoption centre."

Eikichi growled under his breath before just accepting the fact that he'll be referred to as a talking animal for the rest of the night.

"How about I give you a piggyback ride instead?" Eikichi asked him. Seijuro clapped his hands.

"Excellent idea," he slurred, finally climbing onto his back, and Eikichi finally being able to stand up from the ground. The three of them finally left the house with Seijuro being carried by Eikichi, Chihiro grabbing Seijuro's shoes from near the entrance, not being bothered to make Seijuro wear them since that would just waste more time. Once they were out, they went back to the taxi driver, who was patiently waiting for them outside.

"Can you please take us back?" Chihiro asked the man as they got into the car. He nodded and started the ignition, the metre running as the man drove on. Meanwhile in the backseat, Chihiro and Eikichi were sitting on either side of Seijuro, who was in the middle, swaying left and right as he hummed some sort of weird made-up song.

"I can't believe he managed to get _this_ drunk at a party." Chihiro said incredulously.

"I can't believe it either," Eikichi agreed. "Forget having one screw loose, this kid's probably got three or four loose." Seijuro suddenly started laughing to himself and then fell silent. The two shot the redhead a glare, who completely ignored their stares and contentedly went back to humming his song.

"And another thing I don't get," Chihiro added. "He's completely wasted but he doesn't reek of alcohol like I would expect. For some reason his breath smells like raspberries."

"Heh, raspberries you say?"

The two turned their attention towards the taxi driver who just spoke.

"Yes raspberries," said Chihiro. "Do you have an idea of what might have caused it?"

"You bet I do," the man said. "That kid must've had raspberry vodka."

"Raspberry vodka?" Chihiro repeated.

"Yeah. That stuff is chock full of booze, but the thing is, you can't smell it, you can't taste it, it's like the alcohol's not even there. All it tastes of is raspberry and nothin' else. You might think after a sip that there's no alcohol, but believe me, there is. It's so easy to drink too much that by the time you're drunk, you don't even know what hit you."

"That explains everything," Eikichi grumbled, trying not to get annoyed when Seijuro kept babbling on, asking him if gorillas knew how to juggle. The taxi man just shook his head.

"I dunno how much that kid drank, but all I know is that his hangover's gonna be hell."

They finally reached the house and stepped out of the car. Thanking the taxi driver once again, he paid the correct fare and closed the car door, watching the man drive out of their street and out of sight. With Seijuro being carried once again by Eikichi, they step up to the front door, and Chihiro uses his keys to unlock it.

"Guys, we're back," Chihiro called as they got into the house. As soon as they heard his voice, Reo and Kotarou came running, wanting to know the details.

"What happened?" Kotarou asked.

"How's Sei-chan? Is he okay?" Chihiro just shrugged as he took off his own shoes.

"I don't know, why don't you ask him?" he said, jerking a thumb towards the redhead, who was being lowered onto the ground slowly after making sure he could stand up.

"Sei-chan, how are you feeling?" Reo asked, looking at the dazed teenager, who was trying to regain his footing on the floor like a newborn fawn. Seijuro looked at Reo and lifted up one of his hands.

" _Enchanté mademoiselle,_ " he said, kissing the knuckles of Reo's hand. Reo stared at him in confusion.

"Why?" he said. "I'm flattered but why?"

"Just don't ask questions," Chihiro sighed.

"Ehhh, Sei's really off his top, isn't he?" Kotarou said, coming up close and examining his younger brother. Seijuro put a hand on top of Kotarou's head and began ruffling his hair.

"You're so fluffy," he said after a moment of silence. Suddenly he heard a meow and looked down to find Nuisance had come in and now was weaving through Seijuro's legs. He immediately lost interest in Kotarou and went down on his knees.

"Look, gorilla-san, it's a kitty!"

"Pfft! Eikichi did Sei just call you 'gorilla-san'?"

"Shut it Kotarou."

Seijuro began petting Nuisance as she purred in delight.

"Chihiro-nii-san, did you know I can speak cat?"

"That's nice, Seijuro."

"No, I'm serious, watch." He turned to Nuisance, who was looking up at her master, wondering what he was going to say.

"Nyaaa~" he sounded out. Nuisance mewled back in response and he chuckled, apparently amused to what he thinks she said in response.

"See? I told you," he bragged, beaming triumphantly.

"Sei, what did Nuisance tell you?" Seijuro stared at him.

"Nuisance said you should really do something about that unsightly shirt that you have on." Kotarou looked down at the plain black t-shirt he had on and furrowed his brows. Okay, this kid had officially lost it.

"I don't think that's what she said in my opinion." Seijuro dazedly blinked at Kotarou.

"Is that so?" he mumbled. "Well you can take your opinion and shove it up your—"

"OOOOKAY you've had enough fun," Chihiro interjected, clapping a hand over Seijuro's mouth. "Why don't you go and change?"

"Only if gorilla-san carries me to my room," he said after prying his brother's hand off. Chihiro glanced over at Eikichi, who sighed as he gave Seijuro another piggyback ride while mumbling something under his breath. Kotarou went to get a cup a water and followed behind them so he could put it in his room. Reo also tagged along because Seijuro said to him "Someone as beautiful as you shouldn't be in a room by yourself" and so Reo just shrugged and went with it. They finally got to his room and Eikichi set him down on the bed, Chihiro getting a pair of pyjamas out of Seijuro's wardrobe and handing them to the owner, who only stared down at them with a blank expression.

"Seijuro, can you put these on?" Seijuro scratched his head and took the pyjama shirt, looking at it for some time before sliding it over his head.

"No, Seijuro, you're meant to take off the shirt you're wearing first," Chihiro reminded him, before helping him take off his shirt and put the pyjama shirt on. He then helped him get into his pyjama pants. Then, he was ready to go to sleep, except there was one problem.

"I'm not tired," Seijuro moaned, folding his arms in protest when Chihiro told him to lie down.

"Please just sleep. You'll feel better in the morning."

"I don't want to sleep."

"Well you're going to have to."

"No. I don't want to."

Chihiro was trying so hard to be patient with this boy, but he was slipping. For some reason, the irritated look on Chihiro's face was somehow funny to Seijuro, and he laughed until he got the hiccups.

"Honestly…" Chihiro muttered before putting a cup of water to Seijuro's lips, making him drink from it to calm him down. Seijuro pulled away from the cup in favour of saying something else, which was just him babbling more nonsense.

"Chihiro-nii-san—*hic*," Seijuro said through hiccups. "Will you—*hic*—stay here tonight?"

"If you promise to sleep," he said tiredly.

"You have a—*hic*—deal."

"Yeah, yeah just drink your water."

The other three left them in peace and Chihiro pulled up Seijuro's chair next to the bed as he settled himself down. He was first pretty fidgety, but he eventually quieted down after a few minutes. Watching his eyelids finally close, Chihiro waited for a little bit longer so he can really confirm that he was asleep. He got up quietly from the chair twenty minutes after. Before leaving the room, he looked at Seijuro one more time. He was now fully asleep and he was lying on his side. There was a bit of drool that dripped down the side of his mouth and Chihiro just chuckled at that, finding funny how much he had let his guard down. He ruffled Seijuro's hair and left, shutting the door behind him as he went to his own room to sleep.

…

It was the next morning and Chihiro, Eikichi, Kotarou and Reo were downstairs. They were eating breakfast at the table when they finally heard footsteps coming down the stairs. The footsteps belonged to Seijuro. He was trudging towards the kitchen, looking rather miserable as he took a seat at the table.

"Good morning," said Chihiro. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel horrible," Seijuro said as he sat down.

"That's what you call a hangover Seijuro. It doesn't feel all that great does it?"

"My head hurts," he whined, putting his head on the table. Reo patted his head sympathetically.

"Don't worry Sei-chan it'll wear off soon."

"Hmph, serves you right for calling me a gorilla," Eikichi mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I didn't say anything."

"Ne, Sei, do you remember anything from last night?" Kotarou asked. He shook his head.

"I don't remember anything at all," he said "but from this, I've taken away one thing."

"What's that?" Seijuro lifted his head from the table and glared at his four brothers.

"Never let me go to a party again."

* * *

 **And I am done! I just want to say as a heads up before I leave you guys till my next update, I won't be posting anything until the end of next week, because for the first week of February I have mock exams so I have to study. They say they don't count for anything, but I ain't tryna fail you feel me? Anyway, I apologize for whatever inconvenience this might be for all who enjoy this fanfic, but hey, I already have university offers, so I have to start living up to their expectations sometime. Anyway, until next time, you know what to do...**

 **Read and review please!**


	17. Insult to injury

**Hello~! I am back after my mock exams! Sorry for the inactivity but it couldn't be helped. Anyway, this chapter is another long one and another slightly angsty one? Who knows, really.**

 **Anyway, this is a collaboration chapter with the writing by me and the idea by my really good friend yuki-chicken (a.k.a. Yuki-senpai)! She's like the best at coming up with ideas so a shout-out to her for being the best co-author I could ask for XD check out her ffn page if you got time!**

 **It's 3 a.m. so I have no plans to reread/edit this thing till tomorrow so I apologize in advance for any typos, I will fix them later. On to the next chapter!**

* * *

Insult to injury

It was a Friday evening and Seijuro was in the school gymnasium along with the rest of his team. They had just finished practice and their coach, Shirogane Eiji, had gathered them around to talk about something. He may be the coach for the high school division as well, but since they have practice on different days than the middle school division, it made it easier for him since he doesn't have to juggle so many responsibilities at one time. They all surrounded the coach as he began to speak.

"I've come with an announcement for our next practice match. The school we are playing will be coming over to Rakuzan and we will play a game against them in two weeks' time. But, a word of caution," he said, pausing to look up from his clipboard at the large group of students staring at him. "This team is not only relatively strong, but very dangerous as well. They are extremely rough with their play and many people who have played against them have been sent off the court due to injuries."

"…Coach?"

Coach Shirogane looked up from his clipboard once more to see that Seijuro had called him.

"Seijuro. What is it?"

"Which school is it that we are playing?"

"Ah, I was just getting to that," the coach replied, looking back at the sheets pinned to the clipboard and reading the name off the paper. "The school we are playing is…Kirisaki Daiichi." A number of gasps were heard amongst the group of students as they recognized the name of this school. Coach Shirogane merely closed his eyes and sighed.

"I thought I might get that reaction from you all," he said. "Looking back at their game history and their records, they haven't gone a single game this season without sending at least one of their opponent's players off the court. More specifically, the teams' aces, so keep that in mind." With that last little statement, his eyes flickered towards Seijuro, locking eyes with the boy before going back to the sheet of paper, expecting the redhead to have gotten the message, which he did. Seijuro frowned at the prospect of having to deal with such a violent team.

"May I ask who coaches their team, sir?" An eyebrow was raised at this question, but coach Shirogane didn't divulge into this and instead answered his question.

"The one who coaches their team is Hanamiya Makoto." Seijuro's eyes widened slightly.

"But I thought he was the coach of the high school division?"

"He is," the coach replied. "He does both, and plays in the high school matches as a Point Guard and as the team's captain. I don't know exactly what he teaches them, but what I can assume is that it's most likely how to use unnecessary rough play on the court. So I want all of you, in our practice match, to be alert at all times, don't be caught off guard, and try your absolute best not to be caught in any of their traps."

"Yes coach!"

"Dismissed."

Everyone began to disperse as the players gathered their things and headed out of the gymnasium, making their way home. Seijuro left as well after grabbing his bag from the side, and began walking back home. He couldn't help but think of what coach Shirogane was saying.

 _Looking back at their game history and their records, they haven't gone a single game this season without sending at least one of their opponent's players off the court. More specifically, the teams' aces, so keep that in mind._

He sighed. He didn't know what to expect from them, since they've never had a match with that school. At the very least, he didn't have to play a match with Hanamiya Makoto. Unfortunately, in the future, if his brothers ever had a match with them, they'd have to play against the dark mastermind himself. Even though they haven't had a match with them yet, Seijuro has heard of them through nasty rumours. Even Seirin has had a run-in with them. Quite recently, in a match, their Centre was taken out during the game after a horrible accident that seriously injured his knee. The victim? Kiyoshi Teppei, the Iron Heart, and one of the Uncrowned Kings. Since then, Seirin has held a special animosity for that team. Luckily for them, since that time, they have yet to have another run-in with their team. But, if they are to compete in the Winter Cup this year, a second encounter is inevitable. Seijuro shook his head. He was thinking about this way too much. He finally reached the house and stepped up to the front door as he pulled out his house key. Well, as long as he's on guard, he can evade their attacks. Although it will be especially difficult for him. After all, he _is_ the one they'll be targeting.

~O~

Just like that, the day of the fated practice match had finally arrived. It was on a Saturday morning, and because of that, a few people did come to spectate the game. They were waiting for the other team to show up, practicing lay-ups in their anticipation until, eventually, the door to the gymnasium opened up and all eyes were on the group of people who came through the door. There, in dark green and black, was the team they were to play, Kirisaki Daiichi. Amongst the team of vicious looking middle-schoolers, there stood the one high-schooler out of all of them. He had slick black hair with pale skin, shifty grey eyes, and a devious smile. Hanamiya Makoto. Seijuro finished up his shooting and stared him down. No doubt, the team looked strong on its own. And the way Hanamiya was just standing there with that look on his face, it almost sent shivers down his spine. _Almost_.

The teams continued to warm up while everything was being prepared. In that time Seijuro was practicing his defence with another one of his teammates. His teammate tried to drive past him to the basket but Seijuro was quick to get in front. The moment the other boy hesitated, Seijuro slapped the ball out of his hand. The ball began to roll out of the court and finally stopped in place near one of the benches, Seijuro running after it. Reaching down, Seijuro was about to pick it up when someone else put their hands around the ball and picked it up instead.

"Is this yours?" a voice asked. Seijuro nodded.

"Yes, it is. Thank you very…" he trailed off as he looked up at the person who picked up the ball for him. It was Hanamiya.

"So, you're one of the miracles, huh. Seijuro, is it?" Seijuro pursed his lips together.

"Yes, I am," he answered. "And you're one of the 'Uncrowned Kings', correct?"

"Hmph, kid knows his stuff," Hanamiya muttered, as his eyes examined Seijuro up and down. He was relatively average in height for someone his age. Although looking at any part of his body that wasn't covered by his basketball uniform, you could see that he was built for this sport, his arms and calves were well developed. Since this would be the first time that Hanamiya would be seeing Seijuro in action in a game, it would be interesting to see how good he is, or, in Hanamiya's terms, how long he would last.

"…Is there a reason you're staring at me?"

"I'm not staring, really," Hanamiya responded, making no attempt to fix the expression on his face. "I'm just curious to see a member of the Generation of Miracles this close-up."

Seijuro was already uncomfortable at the way he was looking at him. He was sizing him up, judging his stats. It was very apparent from the looks he was giving him through those calculating eyes, Hanamiya was already trying to figure out a way to _break_ him.

The door opened upstairs as more people entered the gymnasium, mainly students. Within that group that just showed up, there was Kotarou, Reo, Eikichi and Chihiro. Since they weren't doing anything on that particular Saturday, they had promised their younger brother to come and watch his game.

"So who was it Sei was playing against today?" Kotarou asked.

"I don't remember." Chihiro said, putting his light novel into his bag.

"I'm so hungry." Eikichi grunted.

"You just ate Eikichi!" Reo exclaimed. "Stop thinking about food for once and focus on today's game." They sat on the front row of seats and spotted Seijuro down near the edge of the court.

"Ah, it's Sei-chan!" said Reo. He waved to the redhead from his seat. Seijuro looked up from where he was standing and talking with Hanamiya to find Reo waving at him. He smiled and waved back at them, causing Hanamiya to raise an eyebrow and turn around to see who he was waving at. That was when he caught the eye of the four sitting up on the second level.

 _Hmm, so the three Uncrowned Kings do have one of the miracles as their younger brother after all…_

"Eh? Hanamiya?" Kotarou said in confusion. "You mean that they're playing Kirisaki Daiichi?" The other three frowned.

"That's not good," said Chihiro. "They're the most violent team in their district, probably in the entire middle and high school division even. They always injure at least one player per game."

"Oi, oi, doesn't that mean at least one of our players on the court is gonna be injured?" Eikichi asked.

"What? Does that mean Sei-chan is going to be in harm's way?" Chihiro clenched his teeth.

"He better not be," he said. "I swear if they try anything funny I'll kill that Hanamiya guy."

Meanwhile, back down on the court, Seijuro decided to cut their conversation.

"It's about time I got back to my warm-up," he said. "I look forward to our practice match today. Our team won't be holding back." Hanamiya raised his eyebrows as a dirty smirk slipped across his face.

"Ah, yes, I look forward to it as well, Seijuro. We won't be holding back either, and we'll be sure to give your brothers a good show today."

~O~

When everything was prepared, the two teams lined up at the centre and bowed towards their opponents. Then, everyone got into position as the referee brought the ball to the centre and threw it upwards. With that, the game started.

Rakuzan's centre grabbed the ball first and passed it to Seijuro, who was wide open. The second he caught the ball, he was already surrounded. The four brothers were watching from the sidelines.

"Ehhh, Sei's being double-teamed," Kotarou observed.

"They're quick with defence," said Reo.

"Well, they're a hell of strong team so I guess I saw it coming," said Eikichi. Chihiro didn't say anything, he just continued to spectate, to see what would happen. That's when he noticed something. Hanamiya gave a look to one of the boys on his team. Then, that boy ran in front of the referee, blocking his line of sight. As soon as the referee couldn't see what was happening, the two players double-teaming Seijuro began playing roughly, elbowing him and shoving him from behind.

"So they're gonna start with that, huh?" Chihiro growled from his seat. "They're the worst."

Seijuro was caught up in the middle of the two and felt himself stagger forward after being pushed around so much. His teammates couldn't shake their marks just yet, and so for the time being, he was stuck. Seijuro tried to drive past but he suddenly felt a weight being put on his foot. He looked down and saw that one of them had stepped on foot to keep him pinned down. This was ridiculous. And if he didn't hurry up and pass soon, he'll get a violation for holding the ball for too long. Suddenly, one of his teammates broke free from him mark and called out to him up front. Seijuro faked a pass and bounced the ball under one of the player's legs, running to the other side and retrieving it as he made a run towards the basket. The other players caught up to him as he passed into the two-point zone and tried to block him. Seijuro halted in place and switched gears as he went for a jump shot. Two players, jumping in the air as well, tried to stop him, but he held the ball out of their reach and passed to his teammate, the shooting guard, who grabbed the ball and made a three-pointer with no time wasted. Rakuzan's score went up by three points and the people watching began to cheer. Coach Shirogane nodded his head in satisfaction, they now were in control.

"Well…at least our team scored the first point," said Kotarou, watching as the basketball swished through the net and descend back down onto the court.

"But they sure are giving chibi a rough time on the court," said Eikichi.

"Poor Sei-chan!"

"Well, as underhanded as they are, he doesn't look like he's been hurt physically, only shaken up a bit," said Chihiro. "Tch, Hanamiya's already got the team using rough play right from the get-go. What an asshole."

Once the basket had been made, Kirisaki Daiichi now had possession of the ball. A player dribbled down the court and went into the two-point zone. Seijuro tried to block him, but they had pinned down his foot again. Looking towards his teammates, the players had done the same to them as well, keeping a tight man-to-man defence. Precious seconds were wasted trying to slide his foot out from under his mark and try to defend their basket. By the time, he raised his hand up to block, he was a second too late, and the ball swished through the basket. Kirisaki Daiichi's score went up by two. One point behind Rakuzan so far. It's not like they can't score against them, but it was still amazing how they could get back at them so quickly. An eye for an eye. When the shot went through, he frowned and looked back at the player who made the shot.

"I should have blocked sooner," he muttered to himself. One of his teammates ran past and clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't mind," he said. "We'll get them back with the next one." Seijuro nodded reflectively.

"Yeah."

They gave Seijuro possession of the ball once again and he dribbled the ball slowly down the court. When he began getting closer to the other players, one of his teammates on his right broke free of his mark and called for the ball. With everyone's attention towards him, Seijuro took opportunity of that and passed to the left, catching the other team off guard. The player caught the ball and shot from where he was, the ball bouncing off the backboard before it went cleanly through the hoop. Rakuzan's score went up by two this time, and they were beginning to pull away from Kirisaki Daiichi. Now, if they could just steer clear of all these attacks, then they could have less problems. Unfortunately for Rakuzan, that never happened.

Fast forwarding twenty minutes, Rakuzan had a ten point lead, but Kirisaki Daiichi was still hanging on; more like, they still had quite a bit of life in them. Throughout the duration of the first and second quarter, Rakuzan's team was subject to the most violent of plays. Always getting shoved aggressively or elbowed or rammed in the side when the referee's line of sight was blocked. The four brothers were watching the game attentively from the stands. In fact, looking at their brother getting thrashed about on the court, it wasn't even a matter of watching, they were full-on glaring.

"This is ridiculous," Chihiro hissed through gritted teeth.

"I can't believe their referee hasn't called a single foul or violation or anything!" Kotarou exclaimed, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

"Look at how badly Sei-chan is being hurt," Reo said.

"These jerks should just quit it already," Eikichi snarled.

Obviously when the second quarter ended, both teams had a ten minute break as the clocks were reset. Rakuzan was sitting on their benches, either drinking from their water bottles or using the towels to wipe the sweat away from their faces. Coach Shirogane folded his arms as he looked over at the other team with narrowed eyes.

"At the moment, I have no problems with how you are playing," he said after a long silence. "The problem is how to deal with the way they are playing. I can't say at all that I'm happy with what Hanamiya is teaching them. To be honest if he wants to use so much senseless violence in a sport, then he should really just switch to American football."

Seijuro gazed at the coach as his lips curled into a disgusted frown. It's not like they weren't currently winning, but if Kirisaki Daiichi were to persist with their rough play then it might be that they can start making a comeback in this last half. There's no way they can have that. He looked down at himself. He could see his milky-white skin turning a sickly purple in some areas from bruising. Damn those people. He'd get his revenge in the second half for sure. No one was going to hurt him and get away with it. His eyes locked onto Hanamiya on the other side of the court. The high-schooler caught his stare and looked back, giving him that creepy smile of his. Seijuro didn't know what he was up to, but he didn't care. He'd show this egotistical sadist what true pain feels like, through basketball.

The third quarter finally started and Rakuzan had possession of the ball. Their Small Forward gave the ball to Seijuro and he began to dribble the ball down the court. Two people were immediately sent to intercept him. Seijuro didn't stop, and instead faced them head on.

"Where do you think you're going shorty?" one of them sneered. Seijuro didn't even bat an eyelash.

"Shorty?" he repeated darkly. "We'll see about that."

Now, this wasn't necessarily in his nature to do this move. He hadn't practiced it enough for him to ensure its success in an actual game, so it was merely in its testing stages. But something inside of him told him to do it, and so he listened to that voice in his head and charged at the two. They both reached to knock the ball out of his hand before he could plough past, but the second they put their weight on their pivot foot, Seijuro instantly cut back. The two lost their footing and slipped, falling to the ground in shock. Did he just…?

"It appears you two are the short ones now," Seijuro said as he walked past them. "Don't underestimate us. You'll hurt your necks if you look down on people too much."

Before anyone had time to register what happened, he shot the ball. From the three point line. The ball made a high arch before swishing cleanly through the hoop, without even grazing the rim. The people in the crowd cheered as Rakuzan's score went up by three points. A thirteen point difference. Coach Shirogane was slightly surprised at that move as well, but he was also impressed. However, the people who were the most impressed were the four brothers watching in the small audience of course.

"Huh, I didn't know Seijuro could do that," Chihiro quipped.

"How the hell did he do that?" Eikichi said, watching the two players stand up from the court.

"I don't know. But Sei-chan was so cool!" Reo said.

"I know right?!" Kotarou exclaimed loudly. "Sei was totally badass!"

Seijuro smirked slightly at the loud cheers coming from the stands before running back to his position. As he ran back, for a fleeting second, he glared at Hanamiya once more. From the scowl on the teenager's face, it appeared that from that one look, he got the message loud and clear. Seijuro wasn't messing around.

"Heh. So that's your game huh?" Hanamiya mumbled under his breath. "I guess I'll have to end this now. Miracle or not, as soon as you break a player, they're worthless."

Halfway into the quarter, Rakuzan was ahead by nearly a twenty point lead. Seijuro was overwhelming the other team, along with the help of teammates. They were sick and tired of falling victim to their attacks; so this time, they were going to get back at them for sure. By the time this game was done, the only victims would be Kirisaki Daiichi after Rakuzan murders them on the court.

The four brothers continued to watch from the stands as Kirisaki Daiichi took possession of the ball. Their Centre was calling the ball. He was relatively tall, as expected of an average Centre, and he towered over the majority of the players on the court. That's exactly what made it so difficult to steal the ball from him. Theoretically speaking, his height was a real threat. Chihiro watched as many tried to get the ball out of his hands in the first half but to no avail. It was almost impossible to reach. But it didn't stop Seijuro from trying. He ran behind the boy to try and catch him off guard as someone was passing the ball to the tall player, but something happened. Chihiro saw the Centre look towards Hanamiya, who smirked and nodded. That was when he knew, Seijuro just made a horrible mistake.

"Seijuro, don't go there!" he called out from the audience. Seijuro looked up at Chihiro in confusion. It was too late for him now. The player passed to the Centre and he caught the ball; but as he did, he intentionally swung his arm backwards. His elbow hit Seijuro square in the face and he stumbled back. He tried to catch himself, but in the process, his ankle bent the wrong way and in his pain, he tripped, slammed the back of his head into the corner of the metal bar that held the hoop up, and fell, where he lay on the floor, unmoving.

The referee immediately blew his whistle to signify a referee timeout and many people rushed onto the court.

"Seijuro!"

"Is he okay?!"

Coach Shirogane ran onto the court as well, kneeling beside Seijuro as he tried shaking him.

"Seijuro, can you hear me? Say something if you can hear me."

Seijuro didn't respond.

The four brothers rushed downstairs from the stands and ran onto the court. Kneeling on the other side of their brother, Chihiro turned him over so he could see his face. There was a bruise in the middle of his forehead where he had been hit. Chihiro tried to hold his head up to get a closer look, but he felt something wet and sticky. Removing his hand from the back of Seijuro's head, his eyes widened in horror when he saw the red that stained it. He was bleeding. A lot. Just how hard did he hit the metal pole?

"Oh my God…" he murmured.

Shirogane signalled someone at the side.

"Someone bring a paramedic!"

Chihiro tried shaking Seijuro again.

"Seijuro, please wake up." Seijuro's finger twitched and then he moved slightly, moaning in pain as he forced his eyes to open. He saw all the people surrounding him. His brothers were also watching, all of them looking more concerned than ever.

"What happened…?" he breathed. He could see the relief wash over his brother's face.

"Seijuro, don't worry. The paramedics will be here soon."

Seijuro's eyes flickered from his brother to the other side of the court, where Hanamiya was making his way over. He tensed. Hanamiya finally reached the scene and looked down at him.

"Ehhh…such a shame for this to happen during a match," he said. Chihiro glowered at him.

"Get away from him," he growled. Hanamiya threw up his hands in defence.

"Hey, no need to be so hostile," he laughed. "I just want to see how your little ace was doing. Too bad that he had to go through this though. I suppose our match will have to be put on hold." He bent down and leaned in close enough to Seijuro's ear and smirked.

"My condolences," he whispered, and, without another word, he began walking back towards the benches. So, this was the power of Hanamiya Makoto. He truly was a scary person. And the way he just spoke to him, it's like his words were laced in poison. Seijuro bit his lip as he involuntarily shuddered. The chills that didn't run down his spine earlier were now coming back to haunt him. His vision started to blur.

"Chihiro-nii-san…" Chihiro looked back down at Seijuro.

"What's wrong Seijuro?"

Seijuro reached up a trembling hand and clutched his brother's shirt.

"I don't feel right."

"What? What do you mean?"

Seijuro's vision blurred completely and then everything started fading to black as he released his hold and his eyes rolled back. The last thing he heard before he slipped out of consciousness was his brother desperately calling his name.

~O~

Sometime later, Seijuro slowly opened his eyes. He was staring directly at a blank white ceiling with fluorescent lights illuminating the room. The severe brightness made him wince, so he settled for squinting instead. Where was he anyway? He looked down at himself and realized he was lying down on a bed. But this wasn't just any bed, it was a hospital bed. The hospital? He experimentally tried to move his right leg, but when he put pressure on it, extreme pain surged from his ankle to the rest of his body. He sucked in his breath and let out a small sound akin to whimper. He could barely move at all. The best he could do was sit up in bed.

After sight and touch, the rest of his senses were beginning to wake up. The room smelt strongly like rubbing alcohol and there was the low hum of conversation going on outside the door to his room. This was when he looked around the room and realized that it was so empty. He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt incredibly anxious at the realization that he was by himself in this hospital room. Where was everyone? Kotarou? Reo? Eikichi? Chihiro? Where had they all gone?

"…Hello…?" he called out in a feeble voice. "Is anyone there?"

No one responded. His throat was so dry. It was so hard to speak at that moment, it wouldn't be a surprise if no one heard him. After waiting for an extra minute and getting nothing back in reply, he began fiddling with his hands as he looked down at his bed again. He didn't like being in this room. He wanted to go home. Just a few moments later, someone came into the room. Seijuro jolted in surprise and jerked his head towards the doorway to see who had entered. It was a nurse. She looked at him and smiled.

"Ah, good you're awake."

…

Kotarou, Reo, Eikichi and Chihiro were all sitting in the hospital waiting room. They were all on-edge since they came in and they were nervously waiting for the nurse to come back with news. They were so tense, not even Eikichi was talking. After a while, the silence was finally broken.

"Ne…do you think that Sei's alright?" Kotarou asked.

"Of course he is!" Reo said a little too quickly. "Sei-chan will be just fine…" he looked towards Chihiro in uncertainty. "Right?"

Chihiro frowned. He'd like to say yes, but when he held Seijuro's head up to look at him, there was just so much blood… And the way Seijuro grabbed his shirt before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and passed out, there's no telling how bad the accident really was. Of course, he had called the family as soon as it happened. Everyone was mortified. Unfortunately, everyone was busy, so they would have to give their condolences through the phone when Seijuro was able to answer phone calls; but that didn't mean they were any less concerned than the four brothers, Taiga and Tetsuya being especially angry about the situation when they heard who had done it. Chihiro unconsciously clenched his fists. Hanamiya Makoto. That asshole was going to _pay_.

"Excuse me? Would you be Chihiro?"

Chihiro looked up from the floor and saw a nurse coming into the waiting room. He immediately stood up from his seat.

"How is he?" he asked.

"Your brother is doing fine," she answered. "He's just woken up, in fact. Would you like to see him?"

"Please."

Chihiro signalled his brothers to stand up as the four of them followed the nurse into the labyrinth of hallways until they hit a door. The nurse twisted the doorknob and opened the door, ushering the four inside.

"Seijuro, your brothers are here," the nurse said to the redhead. Seijuro perked up and looked at the door to find his four brothers standing near the door. Chihiro gave him a very subtle smile.

"Hey," he said. Seijuro blinked and then offered is own smile.

"Hi."

The nurse left the room and closed the door behind her to give the five some privacy. In the meantime, the four made their way across the room to Seijuro's bed.

"Yo, chibi, you alright?" Eikichi asked. Seijuro paused for a moment as if he needed time to think before nodding slowly.

"Yeah, I think so," he said. Chihiro bent down and examined Seijuro's face, using his hand to turn Seijuro's head every which way to check if there were any other injuries he missed. His hand idly brushed across the small bruise in the middle of his forehead, staring at it for some time.

"Are you sure?" Chihiro asked. Seijuro nodded once more. Feeling satisfied with his answer, he sighed and ruffled his hair affectionately.

"You really gave us a scare during the match you know," said Chihiro.

"I'll say," Reo interjected. "I nearly fainted myself when they said you'd need to go to the hospital."

"Yeah," Kotarou added. "We never thought you'd get hurt that bad."

"About that," said Seijuro "Why am I in the hospital? If all I did was pass out, why didn't they just send me to the nurse's office?" Everyone stared.

"Wow Sei, you really don't know what happened, do you?"

"Not really…" Chihiro decided to tell him.

"When you hit your head against the metal pole, the blow was so big that it split your head open. Doctor said you needed five stitches in your head." Seijuro's eyes widened.

"Stitches?" he said uneasily. Ever since he woke up, there was a nagging pain at the back of his head, but he didn't think much of it until now. His hand reached up and brushed across the part that was hurting. He could feel the nylon of the surgical thread criss-crossing along what Seijuro would imagine to be a large gash. It was all coming back to him now. The practice match, the rough play, the elbow to his face, the way his ankle bent unnaturally trying to catch himself. He removed the sheets that were concealing the rest of his body and looked down at his right ankle. It had swelled up quite a bit. A pain relief patch was placed on the base of his ankle to alleviate him of a bit of the discomfort. He frowned. His brothers all exchanged looks as they watched him. In the midst of their thoughts, the doctor came into the room and walked towards Seijuro's bed.

"Well, it seems you've woken up, eh young man?" Seijuro nodded hesitantly as he pulled the covers back over him. The doctor turned towards Chihiro.

"He's acquired a mild sprain to his right ankle, so I suggest icing it when you get home. It should heal in a few days tops, but I recommend keeping off of it as much as possible until it's healed. He'll need to use these in the meantime." He gestured to the other side of Seijuro's bed to a pair of crutches that were resting against the wall. Chihiro nodded and took in all the information he was given. The doctor then went over to Seijuro and lifted the covers to look at his ankle once more. He pressed on it lightly which caused him to flinch, and, after a bit of extra prodding, he straightened himself up again.

"Mhmm, I would keep his leg elevated as much as possible if I were you," the doctor said, writing something else down on his clipboard. "I'll give you a box of those pain relief patches. I think it'll be easier for him to sleep if he puts one of those on every night before he goes to bed."

"And about the stitches?" Chihiro questioned. The doctor hummed in thought.

"The cut wasn't deep, so he doesn't need to have them on for a while. You can bring him back here in a week's time to remove the stitches."

"Thank you," Chihiro said, bowing politely towards the doctor. The man held a hand up and chuckled lightly.

"Honestly, it's no problem at all," he said. "You all take care."

With that, he left the room to go tend to other patients. Leaving the five of them to gather their things. Chihiro began to start helping Seijuro out of bed while Kotarou went to go get the crutches.

"Alright, let's start heading home."

~O~

Ever since the accident, for the next couple of days, Seijuro had to get used to moving around on his crutches. It was awkward, since he was usually careful to avoid injuries such as this. He couldn't believe he allowed this to happen to him. He was lucky it was during a practice match and not a real game. Of course, he had faith in his teammates to lead their team to victory, but they could run into a lot of snags without him had this been an official match.

During this time, he didn't move around much. He was usually on the couch, with his right leg elevated by some cushions. His brothers helped him out with getting him a drink or anything he needed. He felt slightly guilty for letting them do so many things for him and he insisted on helping them out, but they just told him to rest. He hated feeling so helpless. Throughout the days he was sentenced to bed-rest, he got various calls from his cousins. They were all worried about him and asked how he was feeling, if his ankle still hurt and if his bruises were healing nicely. He appreciated all of their concern and the phone calls helped him kill time. He still couldn't believe he got calls from all of them, like literally all of them. Even Shōgo called him, that's how worried they all were.

Not only did he not move much during this time, but he didn't talk much either. He only talked when he was on the phone and when his brothers spoke to him, no more, no less. He was unusually quiet at dinner as well, always seeming so distant with that faraway look in his eyes. His brothers found it odd to see him look so miserable. Even Nuisance noticed how miserable he was. Whenever he pet her, he was stiff and tense. Once she tried weaving through his legs, since that always made him smile, but he winced in pain once she weaved past his right leg, and so she backed off for a bit, somehow assuming that was a cue to give him a bit of alone time while he recuperates. He couldn't see himself getting out of the house either, so he made a phone call to Kazu, briefly apologizing and dejectedly telling him that he wouldn't be able to make it to the music shop on Sunday.

It was two days after the accident when Seijuro woke up in the middle of the night. He squinted his eyes as he sat up in bed. His head was killing him. It was probably a migraine. Reaching to the crutches that were leaning against his bedside table, he stood up from bed on his left leg, balancing on it as he positioned his crutches at either side and then left his bedroom to go downstairs. He had to hobble down the stairs on one leg to prevent making too much noise and then used his crutches again to make his way into the kitchen. Getting the bottle of aspirin from the medicine cabinet, he shakes out two tablets before pouring himself a glass of water. He sat down and set his crutches down next to him on the floor as he swallowed the two tablets and took a swig of water. Sighing, he looked back the way he came and realized he didn't have enough energy to go back upstairs. He could probably rest there for a little bit. He sleepily blinked his eyes. He could at least surrender for five minutes. So, with that in mind, he put his head on the table and closed his eyes.

…

"Seijuro…Seijuro…wake up, Seijuro."

The redhead opened one eye and then slowly opened the other. When his vision adjusted itself, Chihiro came into view, standing over him next to the kitchen table.

"If you sleep here, you'll catch a cold."

Seijuro lifted his head from the table and glanced over at the digital clock above the oven. 3:26 a.m.

"How come you're down here?" Seijuro asked quietly. Chihiro held up a cup of water that Seijuro assumed he must have poured while he was asleep.

"I came down for a drink," Chihiro answered matter-of-factly. "May I ask why _you_ are out of bed?" Seijuro looked off to the side.

"Aspirin," he said. Chihiro seemed to understand. He sat down across from Seijuro on the kitchen table and rested his head on top of his folded arms, looking directly at Seijuro as Seijuro was looking directly at him.

"So, you feeling any better?" Seijuro shrugged.

"I don't know, a little bit, I suppose."

"What about your ankle, does it still hurt?"

Seijuro looked down at his right leg dangling from the chair he was sitting on. As a test, he put it on the floor and applied a bit of pressure to it. He grimaced faintly at the slight bit of pain but it was otherwise okay.

"It's not as bad," he said. Chihiro lazily reached his hand over and patted his head.

"That's good," he said through a stifled yawn. "Your head okay?" Seijuro nodded.

"It's healing fine as well."

"That's nice." Seijuro shook his head and smiled slightly. He found it relatively amusing talking with Chihiro when he was half asleep.

"So, you think you'll be alright in school tomorrow?" Chihiro asked, closing his eyes as he continued the conversation. Seijuro nodded again.

"Yeah, I think I will be able to manage in school."

"If you say so…"

The redhead chuckled. "Chihiro-nii-san, you still haven't taken your hand off my head." He merely grunted in response, not even bothering to open his eyes.

"I can't be asked to move it so I'll leave it there," he mumbled.

"…Chihiro-nii-san?"

"Hmm?"

"Ah, never mind."

"No, I can tell you want to say something. Spit it out." Seijuro paused.

"Um, during the accident, was it that bad?" Chihiro opened an eye.

"Well, your injuries aren't that bad compared to what I feared they would be when you got knocked down, so I guess it wasn't _as_ bad."

"…I see. I guess I made it look really bad, didn't I? You looked really scared."

"I did, huh? Well you can't blame me."

"And the game?"

"From what I heard, Kirisaki Daiichi insisted on playing after you were gone, but we won in the end." Seijuro smiled at that.

"I guess my team was fine without me," he said. "I was worrying for nothing." He hid the fact that he was absolutely elated that his team was able to give that team a good beating for revenge. But he was also slightly sad that he couldn't play in the rest of the game. All he remembered was passing out and waking up in the hospital. He must've been sleeping for hours. Speaking of sleep, Seijuro was a bit sleep-deprived himself at the moment. He yawned loudly and rubbed his eyes.

"Looks like someone's tired," Chihiro mused as he rose up from his seat. "Alright Sleeping Beauty I'll help you get upstairs so we can both go to bed." Seijuro stood up as well.

"Okay."

~O~

The next couple of days after that, Seijuro's ankle began to heal. After about the fourth day, he started to wean himself off the crutches and try walking on his own. It was kind of hard, but he eventually started to get by, but there was always that slight limp when he stepped down onto his right foot. Even then, his brothers still insisted on doing things for him, making sure that he didn't walk around too much, despite his protests. He got a lot of calls from the family as usual, all of them making sure he was faring well and that everything was alright. His mood began to lighten up as well, since he was getting better and he was starting to walk properly again. When he came back to practice that week, all of his teammates eagerly welcomed him back, much to his surprise. It was nice to get back into the swing of things. Although the coach insisted that he stay off the foot during practice and that he just observe. Seijuro would have liked to move around a bit, but it was coach's orders so he had to follow. It was only for that week anyway. He could play all he wanted the week after.

The day after basketball practice, Chihiro took Seijuro back to the hospital to remove the stitches. It didn't hurt at all like he expected, he just felt a tugging sensation as they removed it and then before he knew it the stitches were out. They didn't even need anaesthetic. He felt the back of his head where the injury used to be, the gash had completely closed up. It seemed things were looking up from here. That is until they were making their way home from the hospital and they, quite literally, ran into the person they least wanted to see, Hanamiya Makoto, who had accidentally run into the two in the street as he came out of the grocery store. His eyes widened slightly when he realized who he bumped into and gave that arrogant little smile of his.

"Well, well," he said in an almost sing-song voice "look who it is. If it isn't Seijuro and his older brother." Seijuro stiffened as the high-schooler approached them but stood in place, refusing to take a step back. He was not going to be intimidated by some sadistic freak. Chihiro, however, walked forward and used his hand to gently push Seijuro behind him. He folded his arms and glared daggers at the shady basketball player.

"Hanamiya you really don't respect people's personal boundaries, do you?" he sneered. "I told you last week and I'll tell you again. _Get away from him._ " Hanamiya blinked and raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Tch, someone's protective. What are you, a mother hen?"

"I'm his brother you douchebag, now piss off."

Seijuro peered out from behind his brother to take a look at Hanamiya one more time. Man did he look sleazy. Like the biggest scumbag you'll ever see. Before Seijuro had time to look away, Hanamiya was already staring at him.

"Ah, how are your injuries, Seijuro?" Chihiro gritted his teeth.

"Stop that."

"Come on, I can't ask the guy how he's doing? How mean of you." He turned back to Seijuro.

"How's your ankle doing?"

Seijuro didn't like the way he asked that question. His voice was extra creepy today. He kept his mouth closed, not bothering to answer. Hanamiya laughed.

"Shy are we~? You were fine during our game last week? Did something happen?" Chihiro grabbed his shirt collar and shoved him against the wall before he could react.

"You know damn well what happened," Chihiro hissed. "Don't pretend like you don't know what you did." Hanamiya tried to speak, but Chihiro pressed his hand up against his throat so he didn't.

"You and your team with your freaking rough play. He split his head open because of you. You think this is some kind of game?" Hanamiya grinned.

"It's fun to make people suffer," he offered. That just made Chihiro even angrier. He was so ready to punch this man, ready to raise a fist up and knock him out, but he felt a tug on his shirt to realize Seijuro was staring at the two. He understood, he wanted them to stop fighting. Putting his hands back at his sides, he huffs out an annoyed breath.

"Just get out of here, you make me sick," Chihiro spat. Hanamiya just shrugged and went on his merry way. Seijuro grabbed his older brother's arm and pulled him in the direction of their house.

…

"Seijuro, what was the deal with stopping me back there?" Seijuro continued on as he looked at Chihiro.

"If you fought, you'd be just as bad as him."

"…I guess you're right," Chihiro admitted after a long pause. "But couldn't you have at least waited like five seconds? I probably could've broken his nose or something." Seijuro laughed.

"I'm sure you could," said Seijuro. "But thank you for trying to protect me anyway." Chihiro blinked.

"Just doing what I signed up for," he said. Seijuro smiled at him before turning to face front.

"Chihiro-nii-san looked very cool when he was threatening Hanamiya."

"You think so?"

"Yes, you were very intimidating."

"Heh, you think if I stared for long enough he would've pissed his pants?"

"Maybe, maybe…"

* * *

 **Okay I'm done, whew! It only took me two days to do this so I'll call this an accomplishment. I'll probably upload soon so yeah. I'm going to bed. See you all later!**


	18. Child's play- Part 1

**Heyooo I'm back again after five days so yes hello all of you. Well, I'm making another arc kind of thing again so I'll be splitting chapters up this time around like the last time, so yeah, expect some mini episodes to be in parts.**

 **Again, this is another collaboration chapter with my amazing friend and basically co-author Yuki-senpai! (Formerly known on this site as yuki-chicken). So another thanks to her for helping me out with my ideas. And if anyone of you guys reading has an idea to share with me or if there's anything you want to see happen in this fanfic, let me know! PM me any time! Or, alternatively, I do have a Tumblr going under the same username so you could do that too. But yes, do consider. Anyway, without further ado...**

 **Let the chapter commence!**

* * *

Child's play- Part 1

Ahhh, the weekend again. It was a nice clear sunny morning all over Kyoto. As usual, the Rakuzan household was up to their typical weekend shenanigans, watching TV, feeding Nuisance, playing video games and so on. This weekend was special though. There was a public holiday on the Monday, meaning that there was no school, a three-day weekend in short. Everyone was just going about their business in the house before Kotarou burst into the house with a couple shopping bags.

"I'm back guys!" he called into the house as he took off his shoes. Reo, Eikichi and Chihiro were around the kitchen when he came through the front door.

"Ah, Kotarou," Reo said, putting down the cup of juice that he was drinking. "Have you come back with the groceries?"

"Yeah, I did," Kotarou answered, holding up the bags to show him. He brought the bags to the kitchen and set them down on the counter, the other three coming around to bring out everything and put it away.

"Wow, you got a lot," said Chihiro. "Didn't you only go there with just over two thousand yen?"

"They had this super huge bargain sale so I was able to get a lot!"

"I see."

While everyone was busy with conversation, Eikichi took one of the bags, ready to take out its contents, but then something caught his eye inside. Whatever is was, it glowed a luminescent blue for a fleeting moment before the glow disappeared. Eikichi raised an eyebrow.

"Oi, Kotarou, what's this?" Kotarou turned around.

"Huh? What's what?" Eikichi sifted through the grocery bag and pulled out a relatively large bottle of what seemed to be some blue sparkling liquid. It began to glow again, catching the attention of the other two.

"What the heck is this thing? Is it food?" Kotarou took the bottle from Eikichi before he could open it.

"It's not food you muscle-headed gorilla!"

"Then what is it?!"

"It's, uh…I don't really know."

"Haaa?"

"How do you not know what you bought?" Reo exclaimed. "In fact don't answer that! What I'd like to know is where on earth you got that shady-looking substance from!"

"I got the shady-looking substance from a shady-looking dude on the street. He said 'You can take the liquid and drink it, or walk away; the choice is yours.' Something like that." Reo felt his eye twitch. That line sounded eerily familiar.

"Oh dear." Everyone gazed at Reo in confusion.

"What is it?" Chihiro asked.

"So you mean to say that's the same man?" Reo said. "That same man who showed me that weird button that made Sei-chan all clingy? It must be!"

"Eh? That was the guy?" Kotarou said in surprise.

"Yes! The same man! And if he the one who gave you that—that thing," he said, stabbing a finger at the suspicious bottle in Kotarou's hand "then something's definitely going to happen!"

"Oi, do you even know what that stuff does?" Eikichi asked. Kotarou scratched his head.

"Uh…well, the man said that it was a mystery."

"What?!" Reo blanched.

"So…that means…" Chihiro nodded sagely.

"Exactly. The only way to figure out what it does is to actually drink it."

"I'm not," said Kotarou.

"I'm not either," Reo quipped.

"A hundred and fifty percent no," Chihiro deadpanned.

"If you think I'm gonna put that nasty stuff in my mouth then you must have cement for brains!" Eikichi shouted.

Everyone stared at the blue liquid swishing around inside its glass encasing. There was _no way_ any of them were going to put that in their mouths. It was weird-looking, it was shady, and no one knew the effects, so why would they? But, they were all curious to see what it did, so there had to be some way for them to test it out. Who could they use?

"Hello everyone."

The four of them swivelled their heads towards the approaching voice. It was Seijuro, who had just come down the stairs with Nuisance trailing along beside him. Well, if that wasn't a sign from God to use him as a test subject, then they didn't know what was. While everyone else greeted Seijuro, Kotarou sneakily took Reo's cup of juice and slipped some of the liquid inside, plugging up the mysterious bottle and hiding it under the table. Chihiro saw him, but decided not to say anything in favour of seeing what he was up to.

"What are you all doing?" Seijuro asked as he eyed the groceries. Reo tried to think of an excuse.

"Well, we were—"

"We were trying out this drink that I bought!" Kotarou said, interrupting Reo and putting the cup in front of Seijuro. "See? Look! We poured you some!" Seijuro looked down at the cup and gratefully took it.

"Thank you very much," he said. The scent of the tainted liquid rose up and hit Seijuro's nose before he even put his mouth on the rim of the cup. He sniffed slightly and furrowed his brows. Kotarou was so sure that Seijuro had caught on from that, but he merely blinked instead.

"The smell is kind of strange," he murmured, and, without another word, he took a big long sip. Putting the cup back on the counter, his face twisted in disgust as he tasted the reminiscence of the liquid on his tongue.

"Ugh, what was in this drink? It tastes like molasses," he said after a long pause. The moment he said that, his entire body began to glow blue and it gave off a massive light, making Nuisance jump in surprise and scamper back upstairs. Everyone stared at Seijuro wide eyed as they witnessed his transformation. Seijuro was the most surprised out of all of them looking at every inch of his body as the glow persisted.

"Wh-What's happening to me?" he stammered. "What's going on?"

Before anyone answered, the light from Seijuro's body filled up the entire room and everyone was blinded. A cloud of what was assumed to be smoke filled the area, making the other four cough as it surrounded them. Then, just like that, the light disappeared. Everyone opened their eyes again and started fanning the area around them to get rid of the smoke.

"What the hell was that all about?" Eikichi exclaimed.

"That was so cool!" Kotarou said excitedly. "Did you see what just happened?"

"Kotarou, _what_ in the name of all things holy did you get from that man?"

"Never mind that," Chihiro dismissed. "What happened to Seijuro?"

That was when they heard a small voice call out from under all the smoke.

"Um…guys?"

Everyone turned back to where Seijuro was, their mouths flying open in shock as they stared at who was standing there. It looked exactly like Seijuro with his ruby red hair and eyes with even the same confused expression he was wearing before all that glowy mess happened. The only difference was that this person was younger. So much younger. The four could all agree that it looked like Seijuro, except this boy was over ten years younger with the voice of a toddler. It couldn't be…

"S-Seijuro?" Chihiro said, not taking his eyes off the little boy who was standing in front of him.

"What is it?" Seijuro said. "Why are you so tall?"

"It's not us who've gotten tall, it's you who's gotten small!" Eikichi pointed out. Seijuro raised an eyebrow.

"Small?"

He looked down at his hands. His eyes widened in horror as he saw how miniature they were compared to what they were supposed to look like. And his legs? Much closer to the ground than usual and quite stubby at that. Not to mention his clothes were suddenly about a million sizes too big for him and his shirt draped over his body like it were some of dress or nightgown. His trousers? Forget about them, they completely slid off his body. Luckily the shirt was big enough that it covered everywhere. But his clothes were not the problem right now.

"Sei-chan you're so adorable!" Reo squealed kneeling down on the floor and hugging him. "You look just like a little kid!"

"Reo-nii-san this is not the time to be doing that," Seijuro sighed.

"But Sei-chan you're so cute right now!"

"Please put me down."

"Oh my gosh you even sound like a little kid too!"

"Reo-nii-san, please hand me your compact mirror," he said, extending his hand. Reo stopped his fanboying and blinked, reaching into his pocket and handing Seijuro the mirror. Seijuro flipped the item open and looked at his reflection. Reo was right. He looked exactly like a little kid. No, he _was_ a little kid.

"How? How did this happen?" Seijuro groaned in despair. "All I did was drink that juice and—" It finally clicked. Prying Reo off of him and hopping back down to the floor, Seijuro marched directly up to Kotarou.

"You!" he growled. "What did you put in that drink you gave me?"

Busted.

Kotarou laughed nervously and got the bottle out from where he was hiding it.

"Ehehe, don't freak out, but I may or may not have slipped some type of magic juice inside your cup and let you drink it…" Seijuro held his head in between his hands.

"I can't believe you used me as your own personal _guinea pig_. Kotarou-nii-san, you're cruel!"

Kotarou wasn't even listening after the first word. When Seijuro was talking, he snorted accidentally, causing the now very small boy to stop.

"What is so funny?"

"I'm sorry!" he said in between short bursts of laughter. "B-But I can't take you seriously while you're in that form! Do you know how funny it is to hear a toddler yell at someone? You should really listen to yourself Sei, you sound like you inhaled some helium! Pfft—hahahahaha!" Seijuro folded his arms.

"Stop laughing, this is serious!" When Kotarou's giggling persisted, he looked towards Eikichi and Chihiro to back him up, only to find out that they were also trying to stifle their laughter. Could no one just take him seriously for one minute?

"Kotarou-nii-san, this isn't funny! Change me back!" Kotarou stopped laughing finally.

"I don't know how, Sei!" he pleaded in defence. "All I know is that this weird juice stuff turned you into a little kid." Not convinced by his statement at all, he took the bottle from Kotarou and looked at it from all angles.

"There must be something written here that can help me…" He examined the underside, and that finally gave him what he wanted to see. A label with some writing.

"I found something on the bottle," Seijuro said. "Read it." He handed the bottle back for Kotarou to read. So he cleared his throat as everyone gathered around to hear what the label had to say.

"This liquid is guaranteed to transform the drinker into a two-year-old child," Kotarou read from the scrawl on the label. "Side effects: While the drinker may keep their intellect, they are still extremely prone to giving into childish impulses. Keep this in mind." He put down the bottle and folded his arms.

"What the heck, it wasn't even a mystery at all what the thing did. That guy just forgot to look at the underside!"

"But wait," Seijuro said. "Did it say anything about when it'll wear off?"

Kotarou paused and shook his head.

"Nah, I didn't see anything on there about when it'll wear off. Hehe, sorry." Reo hummed in thought.

"Well, if I were to guess," he pondered "I'd say that by basing this off the last time, the effects would probably last twenty-four hours at least."

"Twenty-four hours?" Seijuro exclaimed. "Wait, what happened the last time?" They all froze before Reo laughed nervously and waved his hand to dismiss the topic.

"Uh, it's not that important for you to know," he said. Seijuro facepalmed.

"Great, just great. I'm stuck as a two-year-old for at least twenty-four hours. Things could not get any worse."

"Um, actually…they can," Reo said. "Remember what we were supposed to do today?" Seijuro stared at him for a few seconds before his eyes widened in panic. After this mess, it had completely slipped his mind. Today was the day that they were supposed to visit Shuuzo at his university to watch his basketball match…with the rest of their cousins. Well crap.

"I can't go today! Not looking like this!" He wailed, making a gesture to his miniature body.

"Well, we could still go," Chihiro said. "We'd just need to figure out how to explain this to Shuuzo."

"And what about his clothes?" Kotarou asked. "There's nothing that would fit him in the house. So what now?"

"I got an idea," said Reo. "Why don't we go shopping? We could buy Sei-chan some new clothes for the time being!"

"Somehow I feel like it's a bad idea to leave it in the hands of you all," Seijuro said, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. If he knows anything about Reo, he's gonna make him wear some overly cutesy outfit. Nuh-uh. Not on his watch.

"I'll come with you to buy the clothes to see what you're picking out." Eikichi laughed.

"You say that as if you had a choice, chibi. There's no way we're gonna leave a two-year-old in the house alone."

"I'm _not_ a two-year-old."

"Says the two-year-old," Chihiro retorted. "Come on, let's at least find you a better shirt to wear if you're gonna go to the store." Seijuro tried walking over to the stairs, but he came to find that walking was proving to be harder than he thought. Since he's stuck in a two-year-old's body, his legs weren't fully developed for walking, so it ended up being less of a walk and more of a toddle.

"I'm going to have to get used to this," he noted as he wobbled towards the staircase. His brothers, who were close behind, were watching him struggle.

"Aw, that's so precious. Sei-chan's having trouble walking," Reo said, continuing to fawn over him. Meanwhile Seijuro merely rolled his eyes as he crawled up the stairs.

"This is going to be a long day."

~O~

"I cannot believe this."

The five brothers ended up going to the shopping centre to buy some clothes for Seijuro for his temporary…condition. When they left the house, they had to search for his smallest clothes, you know, the ones that everyone has in the recesses of their closets that are way too small but never get around to being thrown out or given away. A little adjustment here and a few safety pins there and Seijuro's clothes looked somewhat decent enough to leave the house in, the now small redhead wearing an oversized jersey and a pair of shorts. Unfortunately, they couldn't find shoes small enough, which wasn't all that surprising really, so he was going barefoot for the time being. Not that he was even walking in the first place. The four of them made him sit in the trolley. Not the part where you put groceries and other items, but the section that is specifically made for small children to sit in, and Seijuro was hating every second of it.

"I don't understand why I have to sit in here," Seijuro complained.

"Because," said Chihiro. "We don't want you running off."

"I'm not a child."

"Whatever you say, O tiny one."

"I'm not tiny!"

Eikichi burst out laughing.

"Is the baby throwing a tantrum?" he said in a mocking tone. Seijuro growled under his breath, making Kotarou laugh as well.

"That grouchy face is amazing!" he said as he snickered to himself. "Reo-nee, take a photo."

"I'm already ahead of you," Reo said, phone already out and pressing the camera button. The camera flashed and Seijuro blinked, realizing what happened when it was too late, the four brothers gathering around the phone to laugh at the look on Seijuro's face.

"Reo-nii-san, delete that photo!" he snapped.

"Hey Reo, I think Seijuro's getting angry again. Want to take another photo?" That statement was more than enough for Seijuro to fix his expression and look in the other direction. They all started laughing again.

"Aw Reo, I think you hurt the poor baby's feelings."

Seijuro pulled his face into a frown as he squeezed the handlebar of the trolley. This was absolutely humiliating. He couldn't believe his brothers thought he would run off. He wasn't actually two. But still, what was that thing Kotarou said about being prone to childish impulses? That part was still bothering him, and he has yet to find out. Anyway, it doesn't matter now. He just wanted to walk instead of having to sit there and endure all the mocking.

"I want to get out of the trolley. Put me down."

"But Sei-chan, you look so cute."

"I am not 'cute'." Seijuro said, the scowl returning to his face. "And I'd rather walk."

"But won't it be hard for you to keep up?"

Seijuro sighed. So it's come to this once again. His requests are being denied and so now he has to go to drastic measures again. He doubts that the pouty face will work if he uses it too much, but there was one other thing he could try. It's something he did when he was very little, which had one hundred percent success rate. It was really bad of him to do so, but he was _not_ going to sit in the child's seat of the shopping trolley for God knows how long. That's just embarrassing. So, with that in mind, he folded his arms and frowned as he glared at Reo.

"If you don't let me down, I'll hold my breath," Seijuro threatened. Reo stiffened and stared back at his younger brother.

"You wouldn't."

"I would."

"Sei-chan please don't."

Seijuro knitted his brows together, inhaled deeply and closed his mouth, not letting out even the slightest breath. Reo started panicking.

"Sei-chan, don't do that; it's dangerous!"

Seijuro wasn't listening to him. He kept glaring at Reo with his mouth shut tightly as he continued to hold his breath.

"Oi, chibi, you'll pass out if you keep that up!" Eikichi exclaimed. He still continued to ignore them. Kotarou wasn't as concerned. In fact, he was more impressed than concerned…which was concerning.

"Woahhh, Sei can hold his breath for a long time!" Kotarou said. "Do you think he'll start turning blue?"

"AAAH SEI-CHAAAAAN!"

Chihiro sighed as he watched his three brothers try and make Seijuro stop attempting to starve himself of oxygen. It reminded him of how weird their family was. This does, however, bring him back to the times when Seijuro used to pull this trick many years ago, round about the age of two actually, if he wanted things to go his way. The last time he did it, he held his breath for so long he nearly passed out. In any case, Chihiro better do something. He _is_ the eldest after all.

"Alright, alright you can come down," Chihiro said as he silenced the other three. "Just stop holding your breath please. You're killing your brain cells."

Seijuro finally released his breath and started panting, making up for the oxygen he lost in the forty seconds he wasn't breathing. Again, it was really bad of him to do that, but it had one hundred percent success rates. Hey, if no one treats him like a mature adolescent, he might as well play the part and stoop to a child's level. Chihiro lifted him out of the trolley and set him on the floor.

"There, are you happy now?" Seijuro nodded, face beaming in triumph.

"Good. Just remember, you need to stay close by, okay?"

"Yes, Chihiro-nii-san."

That being said, they continued on, looking for clothes that Seijuro could wear. It wasn't as easy as they thought. There were too many sizes to look at and they were trying to pick out something plain and not too babyish for Seijuro's liking. They didn't know if two-year-olds could kill, but they weren't gonna try and find out. As promised, Seijuro kept close to their side, watching them as they looked around in the clothing aisles. It was when they were debating on which T-shirt was better that Seijuro started to get uninterested.

"You should get the blue one."

"No, I think Sei-chan would look better in the green one."

Seijuro yawned as he continued to observe his brothers argue over T-shirt colours. He was bored out of his mind. It had only been five minutes too. Seijuro may have kept his fourteen-year-old mind, but he was beginning to believe that he had the attention span of a pre-schooler. Speaking of which, he still doesn't understand the childish impulses thing that Kotarou was talking about. What on earth did that mean? His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a small bubble floated towards him. He watched the bubble lightly glide through the air before he reached up a finger and popped it. Giggling to himself, he looked in the direction in which the bubble came. Where the five of them were was right across from the toy section of the store, and there was this bubble machine that was on display, spraying them all over the place. The promise that he made to Chihiro completely flew out of his mind and he wandered off, toddling towards the bubbles as he popped some stray ones along the way. Once he reached the machine, he stood in front of it, popping the new bubbles that were made and running after the ones that he missed. He was starting to have a pretty good time when some kid who looked about two years older ran past and knocked into him, shoving Seijuro to the ground in the process.

"Out of the way!" the boy shouted, before halting in front of the display of toys next to him, looking at some type of action figure. Seijuro stood up from the floor and brushed himself off. Who does that kid think he is, just running all over the place and pushing people aside? The redhead huffed in annoyance and walked up to the boy, tapping him on the shoulder. The boy, preoccupied with looking at toys, turned around and was suddenly face to face with Seijuro.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I want you to apologize for pushing me," Seijuro responded. The older boy put an action figure he was holding away to have a stare down with the two-year-old demanding an apology.

"Why should I say sorry to you?"

"Because I said so," Seijuro stated. The boy folded his arms.

"Hmph! I'm not taking orders from a _baby_. Now get lost!"

Well, now he's done it. He's officially pissed Seijuro off. How dare he disrespect him like that! He's just some bratty kid anyway. Oh, he was definitely going to pay for that last comment. _No one_ calls Seijuro a baby and gets away with it. Once the boy had turned back to the toys on the shelf, Seijuro went over to the costume section an aisle over. Looking through the various crazy outfits, he was very lucky to see something that might work. So, putting the mask he found over his head, he went and grabbed another prop before walking back over to the boy near the shelf, tapping him on the shoulder like he did before. Irritated, the older boy made a disgruntled noise before turning around again.

"What do you want this—" The boy froze in fear when he found himself staring at a figure wearing a hockey mask covered in blood and a silver knife, standing dangerously close to where he was. He was petrified.

"I-It's a monster!" he cried. The figure lunged forward with the knife and roared.

"I'm gonna get you!" it said. The older boy started trembling and stumbled as he tried to run.

"Get away from me!" he screamed. The figure just came closer and closer until he was right up in the boy's face, the poor child already screaming for mercy.

"Don't kill me please! I'll do anything!"

"Hmm, anything?" the figure repeated. The boy nodded vigorously.

"Yes, anything!"

"I want you to say sorry."

"Huh?!"

"Do it or I'll kill you."

"OKAY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY!" The figure puffed out its chest proudly as it removed the mask from its face, revealing Seijuro underneath as he put the fake knife down on the ground.

"Apology accepted," he said. The boy was still trembling and stood up as he turned on his heels and ran away.

"I'm gonna tell on you!" he cried, running into another aisle and disappearing, leaving Seijuro in the toy section by himself. Well, that wasn't good. That kid said he was going to tell on him. The last thing he wanted was to cause a scene, so he ran back to the other four, who were amazingly still arguing over the same two T-shirts, clinging to Reo's leg, much to the teenager's surprise.

"Sei-chan, what's the matter?" Seijuro looked up at his brother.

"Nothing in particular," he said. "Just let me stay here for a minute."

"What? Why?"

Suddenly, the boy from before walked past with his mother and he immediately recognized Seijuro and pointed at him.

"Mommy, look! That's the boy I told you about!" Stopping what he was doing, Chihiro narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he looked down at the redhead in question.

"Seijuro, what did you do?" he said through gritted teeth. Seijuro didn't even attempt to answer, he just backed away and hid behind Reo, peeking at the others as the boy made his accusation.

"Ah, I'm sorry," the mother said awkwardly. "It appears that my son seems to have had a misunderstanding with him and I don't really know what the problem is."

"Well, I suppose he might know something about that, wouldn't you, Seijuro?" Chihiro said, turning around and giving him a sickly sweet smile that sent chills down his spine. Again, instead of saying anything, Seijuro just quickly shook his head. The other boy was livid.

"Mommy, he's lying! He put on a really creepy mask and tried to scare me with it!"

"Sweetie, are you sure it's him?"

"Yes I'm sure," the boy said with confidence. The mother wasn't really all that bothered by the situation, but she seemed pretty tired with the ordeal and probably wanted to find some sort of resolution so her son can calm down. She sighed.

"Would it help if he said sorry?" she asked her son. The boy nodded and stood there next to him mother, waiting for the two words he wanted to hear. The mother leaned in to whisper to Chihiro.

"I'm really sorry about involving your little boy in this," she said "but would you mind asking him if he could apologize to my son? I'm honestly not sure if he did anything wrong, but I don't think my son would be satisfied if he left without getting some sort of apology." Chihiro nodded in understanding.

"Of course," he said. "I'm sure I can squeeze an apology out of him." His eyes darted to Seijuro, hiding behind Reo as he walked over and picked him up.

"Seijuro apologize to the boy," Chihiro said. Seijuro kept his mouth closed and turned the other way. Chihiro felt a vein pop in his forehead.

"Oi. Seijuro. I know you can hear me. I said apologize." Seijuro folded his arms and didn't say a word. Like hell he was going to apologize to some spoiled brat. He was the one who started it anyway, so it serves him right to be scared stiff. All Seijuro wanted from him was an apology, he never expected the situation to end up being the other way around.

"Oi, Seijuro. Did you hear what I said?" Seijuro pouted.

"Chihiro-nii-san is being unfair," he whined. Chihiro's eyebrow twitched as he tried to keep his composure. Oh the things he wanted to do to this boy. At this point, he was probably done trying to reason. He reached over and started pulling on Seijuro's cheek to make him talk.

"Ow, that hurts!" Seijuro cried. "Chihiro-nii-san stop that!" Chihiro continued, without a shred of sympathy on his face.

"Not until you apologize, Seijuro."

"No."

Chihiro pulled harder, making Seijuro scream in pain.

"OW STOP THAT!"

"Apologize then."

"Let go!"

" _Seijuro._ "

The redhead could feel the tears prickling in the corners of his eyes. It hurt so badly to have Chihiro pinching and pulling on his face like that. Eventually, due to the pain, Seijuro gave up.

"Gomen! Gomen! I apologize, just please let go it hurts!"

Chihiro released his grip on Seijuro's cheek and Seijuro began to rub the spot, glaring at Chihiro, who completely ignored the look he was getting from him. The mother looked back down at her son, who was watching as Seijuro apologized.

"See? He said sorry. Are you happy now?" the mother asked him. The boy reluctantly nodded. When she could see that he was satisfied, she turned to Chihiro and bowed in thanks.

"Thank you for your trouble," she said. Chihiro put a hand up.

"It was no problem," he responded. "I'll be sure to keep an eye on him." With that, the mother took her son by the hand and left, leaving the four to stare at Seijuro in amazement, Chihiro being the most irritated out of all of them.

"Seijuro, I let you walk alongside us under the assumption that you _wouldn't_ cause trouble. Can you try not to make a scene in public?" Seijuro looked scandalized by that comment.

"I can't believe you're siding with some random child," Seijuro said. "He was the one who pushed me first anyway." Kotarou's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Ah, I see," he said. "So this is what the bottle meant by childish tendencies." Reo stared in awe.

"Ehhh, so Sei-chan really is like a two-year-old now."

"Well I'm not dealing with another incident like that," said Chihiro. "I think it would be better if Seijuro just sat in the cart again."

"What? I refuse!" Seijuro said.

"I wasn't giving you the option to refuse," Chihiro stated. Seijuro made a face and tears began welling up in his eyes.

"Chihiro-nii-san you're so horrible to your own brother!"

"Oi, don't give me those crocodile tears I'm not buying it. Just because you look two doesn't mean I'll have any mercy on you."

Seijuro growled as Chihiro set him back in the trolley seat, mumbling curses all the while as he was pushed around the store, spending the next hour in a shopping cart imprisonment.

~O~

When the five finally got back to the house, Seijuro was now wearing a different outfit. He had on a blue sweatshirt with a green dinosaur on it (a stegosaurus if you were interested), and a pair of black trousers with some grey casual shoes that looked a bit like converses. They also got a few more sets of outfits and also socks, and a pair of pyjamas, Reo of course insisting that they get him a onesie, not very surprising at all. Either way, Seijuro was relatively satisfied with the outfit picks, so that was all that mattered. Once they returned home, they put the stuff away in Seijuro's room.

"So, I guess you're properly dressed and ready to go anywhere now," said Chihiro, him and the others leaving the clothes on the bed. Seijuro sighed.

"I am, but I still don't want to go looking like this," he said.

"Well you have no choice," Chihiro said. "I'm not leaving you alone in the house. You've already caused trouble today the one time I wasn't looking, so I'm not letting you leave my sights again."

"Hmph!"

"But wait," Kotarou said. "What about the impulses kicking in? If he could start acting like he's two years old at any moment, couldn't he do something like cause a fuss if we sit and watch the game?"

"Heh, just stick a pacifier in his mouth," Eikichi laughed.

"Don't we still have some of his baby things, Reo-nee?"

"Yes, we do," Reo answered. "They're somewhere in the attic inside a box."

"Maybe we could find one of his old pacifiers in there or something!"

"I do hope you're joking," Seijuro said, glowering at his conspiring brothers. "Because there's no way I'm ever going to need a pacifier."

By the time he said this it was too late. Kotarou had already taken off to the attic. Seijuro bit back yet another sigh. This was absolutely ridiculous. His thoughts were interrupted when the doorbell rang. The brothers perked up at the sound and went downstairs together to answer the door, having a pretty clear image of who might be standing there. Just as expected, there were the good ol' rainbow crew again (need I list out their names?), all of them standing in the doorway, waiting to be let in.

"Ah, we were expecting you," said Chihiro. "It's good that you all came."

"But of course-ssu!" said Ryouta, practically bursting with excitement. "We are watching Shuuzocchi's game, after all!"

"It is indeed rare for us to have this opportunity, nanodayo," said Shintarou.

"I'm excited to watch his game!" Satsuki exclaimed happily.

Everyone said their hellos and greeted their cousins, exchanging a few words about how long it's been since their last visit and how excited they were for this one.

"Well we're going to head out soon, so come in and drop your bags all of you," said Reo, gesturing them inside the house. Before they even moved one step, Tetsuya piped up.

"Um, where is Seijuro-kun?" he asked. Everyone else realized and followed suit with the questions.

"Ara? I can't see Sei-chin anywhere~"

"Oh yeah, he's not with you guys, how come?"

"What the hell where is he?"

"Did he go somewhere?"

"He's probably in the bathroom or something."

Commotion began to bubble up amongst the group as they tried to figure out where on earth their cousin was, until a voice silenced them all.

"Guys, I'm down here."

Everyone looked down as Seijuro came out from behind his brothers and went to greet the GoM at the door. All of their mouths flew open as they stared at the two-year-old in front of them as he fiddled with his hands and gave them an awkward smile.

"Hello. I guess an explanation is in order?"

"EEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!"

* * *

 **Okay" That's the first part done! I've got all the other ideas written down in my ideas notebook so I'll get started on the next part most likely tomorrow. Until then, you know what to do...**

 **Read and review please!**


	19. Child's play- Part 2

**Hello all you internet people! I am back with another chapter for you guys. Yeah, like I said, this'll be in parts, so don't expect me to get carried away with another huge chapter for a little bit since everything will be split up in segments.**

 **BEFORE I BEGIN:**

 **Can I just address the person who made the last guest(?) review who named themselves 'One of your fans' (or something like that). I'd love to take in your request, but it's kinda hard for me to understand what _exactly_ you want me to write about, like specifics. If there's anyway you can contact me, can you do so? Like could you send in another review explaining what you want to see in better detail, or if you wanna make an account on this site and PM me, or alternatively if you have a Tumblr you could look me up since my username there is the same as my username here so it'll be easy to reach me. I hope you actually read this haha cuz that's the main reason I made such a long opening blurb.**

 **And to ExpressingMyFellings, yes, I guess you could call it a cliffhanger.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Child's play- Part 2

It was like there was never a normal visit to their cousins' house. All the GoM were supposed to do was arrive there, and with their cousins they were meant to head over to Shuuzo's university to watch his basketball game. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing strange. Just a regular visit. So why was it that the universe hated the very idea of a normal day with such a burning passion that it threw such a curveball in their plans? Of all the weird situations to be in, never did the GoM expect to arrive at the house and find out that their cousin, the well-known, almighty, highly-respected Seijuro, is now…a toddler?

"Seijurocchi, what happened to you?!" Ryouta cried.

"Don't be stupid Ryoutaho! That can't possibly be Seijuro." Daiki said to the blonde teenager.

"It could be!" Taiga said, coming into the discussion. "It looks just like him!"

"Taiga-kun is right," said Tetsuya. "It looks exactly like Seijuro-kun, but smaller."

"Haha! Small is right!" Shōgo snickered. "Look at him, he's frickin tiny!"

"Oi, I'm still standing here," Seijuro reminded them. "And don't call me tiny."

"But you're so mini~" Atsushi drawled. "Sei-chin is really cute."

"If you all could stop making comments about my height, that would be great," Seijuro said in annoyance, already wishing he could just lock himself in his room so he wouldn't have to listen to these people anymore.

"Sorry about that, Sei-kun," Satsuki said, glaring at the others to stop. "But we would like to know what happened."

"I agree with Satsuki, nanodayo," said Shintarou, adjusting his glasses. "Oha Asa said that Sagittarius should be very cautious today, but I never imagined a mishap like this would occur."

"You guys should come on in then," Chihiro said, him and the others making space for everyone to shuffle past, leaving their bags and at the entrance, and sitting on the couches, all of them looking at Seijuro expectantly.

"So what on earth happened, nanodayo?" Shintarou inquired. Seijuro sighed.

"Well, all I know is that I drank a cup of what was assumed to be juice and then there was this flash of light and suddenly I was a two-year-old."

"Eh? That's all you know?" Ryouta asked.

"Well, it's all that happened, but I bet a certain _someone_ would be able to give you the full details." Seijuro said suggestively, glaring at Kotarou. All of the GoM followed the redhead's glare to his older brother, who was already shifting away from Seijuro nervously.

"Ehehe, okay I'll tell them then," he said, trying to appease the glowering toddler sitting next to him. He cleared his throat and started from the beginning.

"Okay," he said. "Long story short, this strange man on the street gave me this bottle of weird blue sparkling liquid and told me that the effects of it was a mystery. So when I brought it home, none of us wanted to drink it to find out what it did, so I slipped some into Reo's cup of juice and gave it to Sei, who just came downstairs. When he took a sip his body started glowing and all this smoke came out and then when the smoke cleared he was like this."

When he finished his story, he looked around to find them all staring at him in disbelief. He blinked but then shrugged it off.

"Wait, wait, so let me get this straight," said Shōgo. "Some creepy-ass man on the street gave you a random bottle of liquid, and you just took it from him?! And you guys tell me _I'm_ bad with street smarts."

"Because you are, nodayo," Shintarou responded. "This is just a different kind of bad. Kotarou-san, I thought we were taught that we shouldn't take hand-outs from strangers." Kotarou laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, I didn't really think of it at that moment," he said, starting to feel slightly embarrassed at the fact that he's being scolded by a middle schooler. "It just looked really cool and so I kinda just…took it."

"Which is why I'll do the grocery shopping next time," said Chihiro, looking at Kotarou rather disapprovingly. "Anyway, never mind that now. It's already happened, so all we can do is wait for the effects to wear off, whenever that is."

"So you don't know when that stuff is gonna wear off?" said Taiga. Chihiro shook his head.

"Nope. All we can assume is lasts for, at the very least, twenty-four hours. But forget about it. We should probably start to head out. Everyone get your things." The large group stood up from the couches and grabbed their bags once more, stepping out the front door, on their way to the train station.

~O~

They finally stepped off the train platform that stopped near the university and got out of the station. The campus was very close by, so they only had to walk the rest of the way, but even Seijuro had a hard time with that. He is now obviously twelve years younger, so he has the walking sense of a two-year-old. Meaning, he could barely keep up with the group on his own, and even stumbled sometimes. After about two minutes of walking, he finally had enough.

"Can all of you slow down please?" Seijuro called to the group in front of him. "Do you know how hard it is to walk in this body?" Daiki and Shōgo started snickering.

"The poor baby is tired of walking," Daiki said under his breath, covering his mouth so Seijuro wouldn't hear him laughing.

"It must suck to be him," said Shōgo, trying to stifle his laughter as well. Out of all the people to do something about it, it was actually Atsushi who stepped forward and picked up the miniature Point Guard, placing him atop his shoulders.

"Is this fine Sei-chin?" Atsushi questioned. Seijuro was quite taken aback, but he recovered and nodded slowly.

"I…I suppose it is. Thank you, Atsushi."

"No problem~"

Seijuro just stayed silent as he was given a ride by his purple-haired cousin. He said thank you, but there was no way that Seijuro would actually tell him that he was enjoying it, since he could now see so high up. Even at his regular height, Seijuro couldn't even see as high as this, considering the fact that he was almost a whole twelve inches shorter than Atsushi. Curse his puny height!

"Sei-chin~ are you okay? You're pulling my hair."

"I'm fine."

Yep, he was definitely not fine. But of course he wasn't going to say anything about that, now was he? Meanwhile, Tetsuya seemed to look happier than usual. Taiga gazed over at him in confusion.

"What's gotten you in such a good mood?" Tetsuya made eye contact with Taiga as he changed his expression into one of utmost seriousness.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm not shortest out of the Miracles anymore. This marks the day of a new era, Taiga-kun."

"Oi, that's not necessarily something to be happy about!"

…

A few more minutes of walking and they finally reached their destination, Kyoto Sangyo University. It was a huge campus with modern-looking buildings all around. There were students all over the place, sitting around and talking, walking to their accommodations, lounging near the trees with books, it was a very lively place. It was good at least, so they could try and blend in with the crowd. Seriously, it's already hard to get around town with the GoM because their hair colours make them stick out like a sore thumb, so with a lot of people around, it'll be less likely that they'll be the centre of attention.

"Where is the game being held?" Tetsuya asked. Chihiro vaguely pointed in one direction.

"Over there," he answered. "We're running a tad bit late and I assume the game must've started a few minutes ago, so we should pick up the pace a little." Everyone hurried over to the large building that was the gymnasium. They entered the double doors and went into the stands on the floor above, sitting down in the seats and spectating the game below, which was four minutes into their first quarter. Looking down at the players, it took no time at all to locate their older cousin. He was in the game of course, playing alongside the other four regulars on his team. After all this time, it was still quite a surprise that Shuuzo even continued basketball in the first place. After his father's condition got worse in middle school, Shuuzo, one of the most recognized Power Forwards in his division, suddenly just vanished from the face of the basketball world, not to be seen or heard from again for his entire high school life. No one knew where he went, no one except for the GoM of course, who were well aware of the fact that he moved to America during this time. It was only after his father's condition significantly improved and they moved back to Japan that Shuuzo decided it was time to pick up an old hobby. And soon enough, his name began flying around in college basketball magazines, reporting the comeback of the player who had disappeared.

The thirteen of them watched him as he dribbled down the court with such speed and agility. He crossed over in an instant when a player from the other team went to stop him, easily being able to get by. It was not a shock to see him get from one side of the court to the other with such little effort. He shot the ball and it made a swish through the basket, making his team's score go up by two, having a now eight point lead on the other team. Everyone watching may hold some sort of title, be it the Generation of Miracles or the Uncrowned Kings, but no matter how high and mighty they all seemed to be, every single one of them held a very special respect towards Shuuzo. He was basically the glue that held the whole family together. It was very difficult to control this large group with their clashing personalities. If it weren't for Shuuzo, their family would be seen as nothing but dysfunctional. He looked after the group and he kept them in line. Everyone, even Chihiro, saw him as some sort of older brother figure, who not only had the capability of handling each and every one of them, but was damn good at basketball too. They continued to spectate as his team absolutely demolished their opponents, leaving them in the dust with a thirty point lead by the end of the fourth quarter. When his game was finished and everyone was clearing away, they all went downstairs and down to the court to greet him.

"Shuuzocchi~!"

Shuuzo looked up to find all of his cousins approaching him.

"Oh, it's you guys," he said. "I thought you cancelled on me last minute when I didn't see you in the stands when the game started."

"We came in halfway into the first quarter," Chihiro responded. He nodded in understanding.

"I see, I see. Well how about the rest of you? Ya doin' alright?"

Everyone answered him positively, telling him that they were all doing fine. He laughed as he went to the GoM and started patting their heads.

"That's good to hear." He stopped and looked at the group once more, his calm expression changed into a puzzled one as he realized something. Someone was missing.

"Hey, where's Seijuro?" Shuuzo inquired. Everyone shared a look with each other before the group hesitantly parted, revealing the person he was looking for. Shuuzo stared down at the redheaded child before him for quite a while before he said anything.

"Is this some kinda joke?" he said, bending down to get a closer look. "Did you kidnap a lost child or something?"

"I advise that you don't call me a lost child, Shuuzo-san."

"What the—!"

Shuuzo stumbled back and inched away from the toddler in surprise. How did that kid know who he was? Not to mention, his voice sounded exactly like…

"Seijuro?" The little boy sighed.

"Unfortunately yes, it is me."

"What the hell?!" Shuuzo exclaimed, looking at him from all angles. "How did this happen to you?"

"You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Go ahead and tell me anyway."

"Kotarou-nii-san bought some strange liquid from a man on the street with unknown effects, mixed it into some juice and gave it to me. I had no idea what was in the drink they gave me so I took a sip and suddenly I transformed. Now I'm a two-year-old and none of us know for how long."

"...Wow, you were right. This is hard to believe."

"Indeed it is."

Shuuzo shook his head in amusement.

"Honestly, of all the things to happen today, who knew you'd turn into a little kid?" Shuuzo said. "I mean look at you! You're so small!"

Seijuro seemed agitated by that last comment.

"Please stop calling me small." Shuuzo laughed, realizing that he was beginning to annoy him.

"Why? The poor baby doesn't like to be called small? Eh, Seijuro-chan?"

"Don't call me that either, I'm not a baby."

"Oh, but you are."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"I'm not."

"You are."

" _I'm not._ "

"Oi, are you two done?" Daiki asked, interrupting their argument. The two look at him before looking back at each other, Seijuro rolling his eyes before turning away. Shuuzo chuckled.

"Heh, I didn't know the baby could be so irritable." Seijuro whipped his head around to his black-haired older cousin.

"Not another word, Shuuzo-san," he growled. "I've had it up to here with everyone patronizing me." Shuuzo looked at him up and down before smirking.

"Considering your height, 'up to here' isn't very much if you ask me."

"Why you—"

"Ah, Shuuzo-kun!"

The two stopped their bickering and turned around to find two girls coming towards them. Shuuzo straightened himself up before waving to them.

"Hey, how's it going you two?" Taiga slowly leaned towards Chihiro and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Chihiro-san, who are those two girls?"

"Oh them?" Chihiro responded. "They're in the same flat as Shuuzo, so those girls, along with a couple others, are his flatmates."

"They've got huge boobs," Daiki blurted out. Satsuki whacked him across the head with her bag.

"Dai-chan! Stop saying such inappropriate things!"

"What? It's true."

Going back to the other conversation, the girls greeted him happily.

"Oh nothing much really," one of them said. "We were just wandering around and happened to stumble on your game."

"Ah, so you were watching?"

"You bet!" the other one said. "You played really well today."

"Ah, thanks a lot."

The two girls looked down and spotted Seijuro, who was occupying himself with surveying the rest of the court, unbeknownst to him that he had been seen. Suddenly the two girls squealed and went over to him, the redhead turning around to source the noise after he was startled, only to come face to face with the two. Seijuro could almost swear that their eyes were sparkling.

"Shuuzo-kun, who is this really cute boy with you?"

"Uh…" Shuuzo paused for a moment. "His name is Seijuro. He my younger cousin."

"Aww, he's adorable!"

Seijuro stared at the two girls in shock. As if it wasn't bad that they saw him, but now he knows that they seem to really, really, _really_ like children. Not good.

"Hi little one," one girl said. "My name is Akira. Can you say Akira?" Seijuro held back a frown. God he hated this, especially how the girls were talking to him. That high-pitched and condescending tone of voice that adults use around children, as if using such a ridiculous tone would make a child understand what they were saying any better. This was literally the worst. And the nerve of this girl, asking him if he could say her name. There were plenty of other things he would've liked to say instead, most of them he'd get scolded for, but in order to not look suspicious, he had to play the part of a two-year-old whether he liked it or not.

"Akira," he mumbled, folding his arms and turning the other direction. The girl squealed in joy.

"He said my name! He said my name!" she cried excitedly. Her friend came up next to them.

"Seijuro-kun, can you say my name too? My name is Hanako. Ha-na-ko." Seijuro was trying so hard not to let out a sigh right now, but he complied anyway.

"Hanako." Now the other girl was squealing. Just great.

"Seijuro-kun is very good with names!" she said, clapping her hands. Seijuro merely stared. Was the fact that she was clapping her hands for him supposed to make him happy? He doesn't know whether or not he found this kind of thing enjoyable when he was younger, but he sure as hell didn't now. Before he knew it, he felt himself being lifted off the ground and carried by the girl who introduced herself as Akira. He fidgeted in her arms at the close proximity. What did this girl think she was doing?

"Ne, Seijuro-kun, do you want to play with us?"

OH GOD NO.

Seijuro peered at Shuuzo with a pleading expression, the look on his face practically screaming 'Help me'. Shuuzo fully understood this. However, the look on his own face clearly said that he wasn't going to help anytime soon. Instead, he went over and patted Seijuro's head with a small laugh.

"Aw come on Seijuro, don't you want to play with the nice girls?"

Seijuro said nothing in response and just kept glaring at his older cousin, expecting him to have gotten the message. Well, if he did, he definitely ignored it, because he puts his hand next to his ear and leans closer to Seijuro, pretending as if he heard him say something.

"Hmm? What was that Seijuro?" he asked. "I think he said that he wants to play with you."

 _No I didn't._

"Really?"

 _No, not really._

"Yay! Seijuro-kun wants to play!"

 _Shuuzo-san, you dirty liar!_

Seijuro probably would've murdered Shuuzo at that moment, had it not been for the force that propelled him upwards. One second he was being carried and the next he looked down and he had left the girl's arms and was in mid-air. The girl caught him back again and tossed him upwards.

"Whee! Isn't this fun, Seijuro-kun?"

They assumed that he thought it was but as the others were watching being catapulted in the air, he had never looked so tense.

"Seijurocchi looks like he not enjoying that-ssu," Ryouta observed.

"I agree," said Tetsuya. "His body looks as stiff as a rock."

"Um, should we do something?" Satsuki asked.

"That won't be necessary," Reo told them.

"Um, Reo-san, why are you taking a video?"

"Ah, my dear Satsuki-chan, I believe the question is 'Why not'."

While everyone was trying to hold in their laughter from the sidelines watching Seijuro get thrown in the air and caught again, the victim himself was suffering. Who could possibly enjoy this? It didn't even feel remotely amusing. And yet, babies still giggle and laugh when their parents do this to them. It must mean that he has to actually have the mindset of a two-year-old in order to find this activity 'fun'. Seijuro grimaced as they tossed him in the air again. This experience wasn't pleasurable at all, the only thing it did was make him feel nauseous. He was thankful when Akira caught him in his arms and didn't toss him up again. Sighing in relief, he rested his head on her shoulder for a brief moment to take a short break from this so-called 'fun'.

"Having fun Seijuro?" Shuuzo asked, folding his arms and smirking. Seijuro sent a death glare towards him. Shuuzo knew exactly what he was doing.

"There it is, nanodayo," said Shintarou.

"Huh? What're you talking about?" said Shōgo. Shintarou jerked a thumb towards Seijuro.

"That look he's giving Shuuzo-san. That is the look of complete and utter betrayal, nodayo."

And Shuuzo wasn't even done there. As if Seijuro hadn't had enough, he knew something else that would really make him suffer.

"Ah, Akira, Hanako, did you know?" The two girls looked at him.

"Know what?" said Hanako. Shuuzo smiled darkly as he eyed the two-year-old.

"Seijuro is actually really ticklish."

The redhead froze. Of all the things to tell them…

"Is he?" said Akira. "That's so cute!"

Seijuro desperately wished that he could jump down and run out of the gymnasium. If there's anything he hates the most, it's physical contact without his consent. _Especially_ tickling. It made matters worse that he was secretly ticklish. Well, not so secretly anymore. Seijuro tried to protest, but Hanako had already started prodding at his sides, earning what could only be described as a yelp. Like the kind you'd hear if you accidentally stepped on a puppy's tail. One of those off-guard sounds that you don't intend to make but it happens anyway. He instantly covered his mouth, careful not to let any other sounds come out of his mouth.

"Ah, I think he started laughing." said Hanako.

"Really?" Akira said. "Let me try."

She looked down at Seijuro with a mischievous smile.

"How about this!"

Her fingers danced across his torso as she hit all his weak spots. Seijuro immediately reacted and began squirming around in her hold, trying so hard not to make any noise. Well, that idea lasted for about five seconds, because right after, his lips began quivering and he lost control. Soon enough, his laughter rang out in the gymnasium and he was writhing around, trying to push her hands away. The others watching were taken aback.

"Oh my God," said Taiga. "Seijuro's actually laughing."

"I thought I was imagining it," Daiki muttered.

"Sei-chin is very cute~" Atsushi muffled through a mouth full potato chips.

"Heh, even as his brothers, hearing him laugh like this is rare," Eikichi said to Kotarou. The yellow-haired Small Forward sweat-dropped.

"Is that why Reo-nee's nose is bleeding?" he said, pointing a finger at their older brother, who had Niagara Falls gushing out from both of his nostrils.

"Sei-chan is an angel…"

"Oi Reo! Don't die on us!"

The two girls kept tickling Seijuro much to his absolute horror. At this point, he didn't even feel like it was an attempt to entertain him. It was just straight up torture.

"P-Please…" he managed to gasp in between his laughs. Shuuzo leaned closer.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" he said, knowing full well that he heard him the first time.

"I said…"

"Hmm?"

Seijuro couldn't say anything else because the laughter began bubbling up in his throat again and soon his desperate pleas became nothing more than incoherent sentences mixed with fervent torrents of giggling that he couldn't stop. He tried one more time.

"Sh-Shuuzo-san!"

"Oh? Begging for mercy so soon?"

"Make it sto—hahahahahaha!"

"I didn't get that last line."

"I said make it—hahahaha!"

"Say it one more time please?" Seijuro bit his lip.

"Make it stop please!"

"Alright, alright I heard you. Akira, Hanako, I think he's had enough."

The girls stopped tickling them and let him be, the poor boy panting heavily as he tried to steady himself. Who knows how long it had been since he laughed like that? He might have never even laughed that hard in his life at all. He swallowed to get the dryness out of his throat. They made him laugh so hard that tears were streaming down his face. And, strangely enough, he couldn't tell whether they were tears of merriment or tears of suffering. Maybe a mixture of both. In fact, he no longer wished to know. Shuuzo took him off the girls and carried Seijuro himself, looking down at his now trembling figure. Shuuzo was starting to feel guilty for agonizing him… Only a little bit though.

"Why're you so shaky?" Shuuzo asked. The redhead grabbed onto his shirt and hid his face in Shuuzo's chest.

"I've never felt so violated," he whimpered quietly, still recoiling from what he considered an 'ambush' to say in the least. His older cousin laughed.

"You sound totally miserable right now you know?"

"Shuuzo-san it's all your fault."

"How cruel of you to throw around accusations. So mean to your own cousin."

"I'm the mean one? Remember what you just did to me no less than thirty seconds ago you traitor."

"What? It was funny."

"Ugh…"

Seijuro didn't say any more than that and just fell slack in Shuuzo's arms. He just continued to make sounds like he was in pain. Shuuzo clicked his tongue. What a drama queen.

"Sei-chin, cheer up~" Atsushi said languidly, patting his head. "Here, I have lollipops I can give you. Want the strawberry flavour~?"

Seijuro didn't verbally respond, but just nodded slowly as Atsushi held out a pink coloured lollipop. Seijuro turned around slightly to look at the candy before reaching out and grabbing it, sucking it complacently as he calmed himself down a bit. The others started making their way towards the two.

"Well, that was very interesting to watch," Chihiro said. "I don't think I've ever heard him laugh that loudly for that long." Shuuzo shrugged.

"Meh, I was just curious to see how badly he'd suffer if I told them that he's ticklish."

"You're quite the sadist, aren't you Shuuzo?"

"Well I'm neither agreeing nor disagreeing with your statement so I'll let you think what you want. Anyway, we're going back to yours' right? Let's get somethin' to eat on the way back."

"Alright! Finally we get to eat something!"

"I've been waiting for food all day!"

"Why is it that Taiga-kun and Daiki-kun only get excited for food or basketball related things?"

"Because they're idiots, nanodayo."

"We're the idiots? Says the one holding a toy boat!"

"It's my lucky item you fool. And I'd best watch myself if I were you, Taiga. Leos are ranked twelfth today in Oha Asa. Don't push your luck."

"I hope where we're going doesn't have food that's too oily. I need to keep my skin clear for my next photoshoot-ssu!"

"Die Ryouta."

"So mean!"

"Oi, shut up all of you and let's go!"

* * *

 **Now that that's out of the way, I'll be taking my leave now. Probs will update by end of this week or beginning of next week latest. Until then...**

 **Read and review please!**


	20. Child's play- Part 3

**Hello, I am back. Sorry I didn't mean to be out for a week but I got swamped with work so I had to take care of that first. But yes here is the next part. Thank you to the last review, it made my day, and to 'One of your fan', thank you very much for explaining. Now I can take in your request, so thanks for sharing your idea with me!**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Child's Play- Part 3

After everyone went to watch Shuuzo's game, they all left the university together and went to the nearest restaurant. It was a small and quaint establishment, but it still looked very nice. The fourteen of them entered the restaurant and the bell hanging above the door rang with a merry jingle. They went to the front table, where a woman was standing there to welcome customers.

"Good afternoon and welcome to you all," the woman greeted with a smile. "Shall I seat you? How many of you are there?"

"There are fourteen of us, ma'am," Shuuzo answered.

"My, what a large group you are," the woman commented. She looked down at Seijuro, who was still being carried by Shuuzo (although in all honesty he made him do it as punishment for making him suffer). He still wasn't talking to anyone either, the only reason his mouth was in use being the strawberry flavoured lollipop he was sucking on. The woman's smile grew ever so slightly wider and she clasped her hands together, gazing at the redhead in adoration.

"Hi there little boy!" she said in that baby voice he hated. "How old are you?"

Seijuro was still in favour of saying nothing so he pretended not to hear her. He hated talking to adults since they all thought he was just some mindless child. Despite him giving her the cold shoulder, the woman seemed completely unaffected and just laughed instead.

"Oh, is he shy?"

Shuuzo shook his head.

"Nah, he's just stubborn." He flicked Seijuro on the forehead, causing him to yelp in pain.

"Don't be a brat, Seijuro. Tell the nice woman how old you are."

Seijuro muttered something under his breath as he rubbed the offended spot on his forehead. He looked toward the woman and reluctantly held up two fingers, before putting his hand back down and occupying himself with the lollipop once more. The woman's expression softened.

"Ah, two years old, that's so precious. Does he talk much?"

"Well," said Shuuzo. "I think he's just had a rough day so far."

"The poor thing!"

Shuuzo felt a tug on his sleeve. It was Seijuro and he was glaring at him. He wasn't a master at reading facial expressions, but it didn't take a genius to know that Seijuro was basically telling him to end the conversation. Shuuzo raised an eyebrow but didn't divulge on it any further.

"Anyway," he said, catching the woman's attention. "Do you have enough space here for all of us?"

"Of course," the woman said. "There are some tables over there." She made a gesture inside to three empty tables that were next to each other.

"Also," she added "would you like a highchair for him?" She pointed to Seijuro, who jolted at the word 'highchair'. Everyone else started silently laughing, the thought of the high and mighty Seijuro being put into a highchair like the toddler he is sending them into fits of giggles. Seijuro lifted his head from Shuuzo's shoulder and leered at the rest of the group. Everyone silenced themselves, the giggles converted into some type of awkward coughing as they all looked in every other direction. Seijuro looked at Shuuzo in anticipation to see what he would say. Oh but Shuuzo had that scheming glint in his eyes, and from that, Seijuro knew only one thing. The outcome would be dire.

"Actually yes, I think we should get one for him," he said, looking down and grinning deviously at the toddler in his arms. In that time, Seijuro never realized how much he wanted to strangle him. Everyone else just looked on, quietly approving of his idea. Like seriously, Seijuro in a highchair? The mere thought is almost illegal. The woman nodded.

"Very well," she said. "I'll take you to your seats, one moment please."

She slipped past the group and disappeared behind a door leaving everyone waiting at the front until she returned.

"Shuuzo-san, what do you think you're doing?" Shuuzo chuckled.

"What, you decided to start talking to me again?"

"I'm not sitting in a highchair."

"Why not?" Reo exclaimed. "You'd look so cute in it."

"Reo-nii-san, please stop with your delusional fantasies," Seijuro grumbled. "I will say this once and once only. I am _not_ sitting in a highchair."

…

"I cannot believe I am sitting in a highchair."

After the woman returned to the front area, she led the group towards the empty tables further into the restaurant. As they saw before, there were three different tables and so everyone just sat in a random one. The table we're focusing on is the middle table, the people occupying it being Daiki, Shōgo, Shuuzo, Chihiro and Seijuro. The dark aura emanating from Seijuro was frightening, even people in the surrounding tables were petrified. No one in history had ever seen a two-year-old look so pissed off before. But of course, none of his cousins or his brothers batted an eyelash.

"Woahhh, Sei looks super scary," Kotarou observed from the other table. Shintarou, who was sitting next to him, nodded in agreement.

"He could kill a man with that glare, nanodayo," the Shooting Guard said offhandedly as he read the menu.

"Is it really that bad for him to sit in a highchair?" asked Satsuki.

"It's not about the highchair," said Tetsuya. "Seijuro-kun is very prideful and has an enormous sense of dignity. So by sitting in the highchair…"

"It's basically throwing the idea of pride and dignity out the window, am I right?" said Taiga.

"Taiga-kun I didn't know you could be so perceptive."

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or insult."

"Oi, Reo, what're you doing?" Eikichi grunted as the black-haired teenager leaned over him with his phone.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Reo. "I'm taking a picture of course~! Ah but I'm having a bit of trouble trying to get a good angle. Atsushi-chan, can you take it for me?"

"No problem~"

"You're a saviour!"

"Reocchi! Ask him to take one on my phone too!"

"Roger that!"

Seijuro folded his arms and his scowl deepened. His family must be out to get him today. First he was harassed by two university girls and now he was put into a highchair. He sighed as his legs dangled uselessly from underneath him. He wanted out.

"Let me sit on an actual chair," said Seijuro after ten minutes. Shuuzo chuckled to himself.

"That is an actual chair," he answered.

"No, I mean the chairs everyone else is sitting on."

"Why? What's wrong with this one?" Shuuzo said, adding a hint of playfulness to his voice.

"You know why. It's embarrassing."

"Ehhh, is that so? I had no idea."

Seijuro groaned as he slouched further into his seat.

"Can I at least be let down to use the bathroom?"

Everyone stared at him after he asked that question. He raised an eyebrow.

"What are you all looking at me for?"

"What else for?" said Shuuzo. "You, going to the bathroom? Can you even go by yourself?" Seijuro blushed furiously at that comment.

"Wh-What on earth are you talking about?!" he stammered. "Of course I can go by myself!" Shuuzo laughed.

"As if!" he exclaimed. "With your height, you probably can't even reach the bathroom stall door." Seijuro's cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red as he glared at his older cousin. He kept his mouth shut because now that he thought about it, Shuuzo was probably right. Like hell he'd admit it though.

"Kyaaaaaaaa! Sei-chan you look so cute with that face!" Reo squealed. Maybe if Seijuro ignored them long enough, they'd stop talking to him. Oh how he wished that were so.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Shuuzo asked blandly. Seijuro thought he couldn't get any more embarrassed.

"D-Don't be ridiculous!" he said. "I told you I don't need help! And what manner of question is that? Shuuzo-san, what intentions are you hiding?"

"I'm not a pervert if that's what you're thinking! I'm trying to help you help you, you little bastard!"

"Shuuzo, don't call him that!" Reo cried. Shuuzo huffed in annoyance.

"Why not? He is one. Not to mention if he goes to the bathroom by himself, someone will just bring him back here 'cause they'll think he's just wandering off." Seijuro groaned in surrender.

" _Fine,_ " he hissed through his teeth. "You may come. But you're just coming to help me open the door." Shuuzo raised an eyebrow.

"That's all I said, didn't I? I doubt you need my help with anything else." He stood up from his seat and lifted Seijuro out of the highchair, setting him down on the ground. While this was happening, a waiter came up to their table and asked the large group if they were ready to take their orders. Chihiro called out to the two who were beginning to leave.

"Wait you two, the waiter is taking our orders." Seijuro just kept walking towards the bathroom and waved a hand.

"Someone please order for me," he said. Shuuzo shrugged.

"Order for me as well." Chihiro nodded.

"Okay, we'll order for you both," he said, and, with that, Shuuzo and Seijuro continued on to the bathroom.

…

When the two returned, it had been about a few minutes and the waiter had already made his way back to the kitchen with the orders he had written down on his small notebook. Seijuro had to unfortunately sit back in the highchair, which he wasn't too happy about, but he endured it anyway. He leaned forward and rested his arms on the handlebar, nestling his head on top. He usually enjoyed outings with his cousins, but this particular day, he just wanted to go home. Being in this situation irked him to no end, but whatever. All he had to do is survive being in the restaurant for a little longer, how bad could that be? In the midst of his thoughts, the waiter came back to their table a bit later holding plates with everyone's orders.

"Your food has arrived," the waiter announced. "Please tell me who ordered which dish so I may give it to you."

From there, the waiter spent the next minute or so giving everyone their specified order. As Seijuro watched everyone receive their plates of food, something was starting to bother him.

"What did you order for me?" he asked. Chihiro looked at Shōgo, who had already started eating.

"Oi, Shōgo, what did you order for Seijuro again?" Shōgo just grunted in response.

"How the hell should I remember? I just picked something random off the menu."

Well, Seijuro wasn't kept in suspense any longer because his order was placed in front of him. It was miso soup, nothing special. It had radish, tofu and…wait…what was that green stuff in the bowl?

"Is that seaweed?" Seijuro asked with a tone of disgust. Chihiro, Shuuzo and Daiki glared at Shōgo.

"What are you lookin' at me for?" the ash-haired teenager growled.

"Are you an idiot?" Daiki said. "Seijuro hates seaweed. Even _I_ knew that." Shuuzo sighed.

"You could've at least looked at the ingredients before you ordered it," he said, whacking him across the head. Seijuro sighed. There always had to be a problem, didn't there? He knew he was going to run into a lot of snags today, but he couldn't even eat without there being some sort of complication? Of all the bad luck. Seijuro glared at the bowl of soup and frowned. There was no way he was eating that.

"Well, it's not that bad," said Shuuzo. "You could just take it out, couldn't you?" Seijuro kept glaring at the bowl.

"I suppose it can't be helped," he heaved. "Although next time, I'd prefer that the ordering be left to someone other than Shōgo." Shōgo folded his arms and rolled his eyes.

"Hmph, not like I freaking care anyway," he said. "By the way, you seriously look like a picky little brat right now." Seijuro stiffened in the midst of taking the seaweed out of his soup and fixated his glare upon his ash-haired cousin.

"I'm not picky," Seijuro said in annoyance. "Everyone has their likes and dislikes. Not to mention it's your fault that I ended up with something I don't like."

"At least I'm not bein' a baby over some seaweed."

It took all that Seijuro had not to snap his chopsticks in half. Shōgo was beginning to test him. It's his fault anyway, so why was he the one complaining? If anyone should be complaining, it should be Seijuro, not Shōgo. And he had the nerve to call him a baby; what was it, annoy Seijuro day? You know what? Seijuro was going to prove to that boy that he was not picky. Maybe that would shut him up for a change. Using his chopsticks to pick up some seaweed, he brought it up to his lips, and, reluctantly, put it into his mouth. Everyone on the table eyed the redhead in surprise.

"Hmm? Have you changed your mind, Seijuro?" Chihiro asked, curious as to what had gotten into him all of a sudden.

"I just…wanted to try it this time," Seijuro mumbled, chewing his food with a deliberate slowness. Shuuzo raised his eyebrows.

"Huh, so he's actually eating seaweed. That's good for him then." Daiki narrowed his eyes.

"So why does he look like he's in pain?" Reo threw a spoon at the side of his head from the other table.

"Hush! Can't you see he's trying?" he whispered. Daiki mumbled something under his breath as he rubbed the spot where he was hit.

Seijuro continued to stay on the same portion of seaweed he had put in his mouth over a minute ago. Eating it was pure agony for him, there was nothing he hated more than this, except pickled ginger, but that was a different story. He hated everything about seaweed. The appearance, the taste, the texture, it was difficult to find even a single thing he liked about it. Whose idea was it to make seaweed a food anyway? Who was the idiot who found that horrid plant in the ocean and thought it would make for great-tasting food? Seijuro hoped whoever that person was, they were locked up somewhere, preferably underground, or some other dark, dank place where no one would hear from them again. He finally swallowed, trying to mask the repulsion on his face before moving on to the next bit.

"Sei-kun looks like he's suffering," Satsuki said, watching as Seijuro put another portion of seaweed into his mouth.

"Y'know," said Taiga, "he could just stop eating it right?"

"I highly doubt he will," said Tetsuya. Taiga sweat-dropped.

"It's about his pride again, isn't it?"

"Precisely. I'm sure Shintarou-kun would know all about pride, yes?"

"What are you implying, nanodayo?"

Seijuro continued to eat the seaweed in his bowl. He was determined to get it out of the way so he could enjoy the rest of his food without any 'obstacles' in the way. But the more he chewed, the more sickening he found it. Eating the seaweed was way easier said than done. It was past the point where could endure it and he could no longer hide the repugnance on his face. But still he pushed on, determined to finish, despite what he was eating being so horribly gross. Thinking about it didn't make him feel any better either. He tried swallowing what was in his mouth, but he felt something horribly wrong. The seaweed that was sliding down his throat was…coming back up? Seijuro immediately clasped a hand over his mouth, causing everyone at the table to stare at him.

"Seijuro, what are you doing?" Chihiro said, looking up from his food. Seijuro didn't answer and kept his hand over his mouth. He was afraid that if he moved, he'd vomit, and so remained frozen in place. Shōgo laughed.

"See? I keep tellin' ya that he can't stomach it. He's just bein' picky." Seijuro's eyebrow twitched, listening to his comment. Shōgo was really starting to piss him off now but if he takes his hand off his mouth, it'd all be over. In fact, why not take his hand off his mouth? He knows what'll happen if he does, but Shōgo deserves it. Maybe it'll teach him to keep his mouth shut next time. So, with that in mind, Seijuro removed his hand and deliberately spit up his food all over Shōgo, making a green mess of his clothes, and taking everyone by surprise.

"What the hell just happened?" said Taiga. Tetsuya hummed in thought.

"I think…I think Seijuro-kun just spit up on Shōgo-kun." Shōgo made a noise of disgust as he looked down at himself.

"What the fuck Seijuro why'd you spit up on me?!" Seijuro nestled his head on top of his arms again as he scowled at him.

"Because you make me sick," he replied in a snarky tone.

"Do you have a death wish?!" Reo smacked the back of his head.

"Don't swear at Sei-chan!" he scolded, lifting the redhead out of the highchair and carrying him. "It was probably an accident!"

"I bet it wasn't!" Shōgo said jabbing an accusing finger at the toddler in Reo's arms. "What the hell is your problem?"

"My problem?" Seijuro argued back. "What about you? All you've been doing is patronizing me with your comments about how small I am and how childish I look. I've been harassed by everyone today and I'm sick of it! How do you think it feels to be made fun of for the whole day?"

"Well you deserve it you pint-sized brat!"

"What did you call me?!"

Reo was beginning to get frantic about the situation as the two kept going at each other's throats.

"Now, now you two," Reo said nervously. "You really shouldn't be fighting in the restaurant."

"Why don't you tell that to the baby?"

"Shōgo you…"

"Ehhh, I never thought Seijurocchi would ever argue, especially with someone like Shōgo-kun," said Ryouta. "This is weird-ssu." Eikichi began thinking to himself.

"Maybe it might be because of that," he mumbled quietly. Ryouta turned to the large-framed teenager in curiosity.

"Because of what?" he asked.

"Well, y'see, it has to do with the magic juice," said Kotarou, making his way over to their table to sit down. "It said that anyone who drinks it keeps their intellect but they're prone to childish impulses. That's probably why Sei is arguing with Shōgo." Ryouta nodded in understanding.

"Oh, so that makes him do stuff he'd usually find immature?"

"Exactly!"

Speaking of which, the two were still fighting, Reo unable to help at all.

"I've had enough of your remarks!" Seijuro snapped. "All you've been doing is getting on my nerves!"

"I'm getting' on _your_ nerves?" Shōgo retorted. "At least you don't have spit-up on your clothes! You're such a pain in the ass!"

"You are!"

"No you are!"

"I am not!"

"You are to!"

"I am _not_!"

"Why don't you just take a goddamn nap or something?!"

"How about you pass me that knife on the table and I'll put you into an eternal slumber?!"

Everyone stared wide eyed as the arguing continued.

"Oi, oi, since when is Seijuro that homicidal?" said Taiga. "Are they ever gonna stop fighting?"

"I assume not," said Tetsuya. "But I have to say, Seijuro-kun is getting too worked up, don't you think?"

Taiga looked back at the situation and saw that the more those two fought, the more frustrated and angry Seijuro was getting. Seijuro never gets that worked up over anything, let alone end up in an argument that makes him feel that way. It made Taiga wonder, how was this fight going to end?

"Sei-chan, maybe it's best that you leave Shō-chan alone," Reo suggested, adding an anxious and forced laugh at the end, trying to notify the angered redhead that he was trying to help and not side with anyone.

"No!" he said. "You've all been doing nothing but making fun of me today! Always calling me a child or making some type of comment about my height, it hurts sometimes you know! And to think you all still don't even care…I…I…" Reo blinked in surprise as he began to see tears welling up in Seijuro's eyes. "I hate you all!"

All thirteen of them were taken aback by the redhead's words. He didn't just mean what he said, did he?

"Seijurocchi's really upset now," Ryouta mumbled. "So this is the power of childish impulses-ssu!"

"Sei-chin don't cry~."

Reo was beyond lost on what to do. Until Kotarou tapped him on the shoulder.

"Reo-nee," he whispered. Reo glanced down at his brother.

"What is it, Kotarou?"

"Well, I dunno if this'll help, but I did bring this from the attic in the house just in case."

He dug into his bag and pulled something out of it, reaching out and placing it in Reo's outstretched hand. When Reo stared down at what had been placed in his palm, his eyes lit up when he realized what it was. It was a pacifier. Eikichi was actually joking in the house when he said they should bring it along with them, but Kotarou apparently took it seriously and actually went into the attic and pulled the pacifier out of the box where Seijuro's baby things were stored. It was a crazy idea, but it might just work. After all, maybe because Seijuro was prone to childish impulses, he'd actually react positively to it. Well, who knows? So, praying that this plan would be successful, Reo turned to the still yelling Seijuro in his arms and tried grabbing his attention.

"Sei-chan…" The boy in question whipped his head around angrily.

"What?!" he shouted. Without warning, Reo shoved the pacifier into his mouth, taking Seijuro and literally everyone else by surprise.

"Oi, did he just…?" Daiki began.

"Yep, he definitely just put a pacifier in his mouth-ssu," said Ryouta.

Seijuro stared at his older brother with wide eyes as he registered what had just happened. There was a pacifier. And it was in his mouth. …What?

Reo expected him to lash out again and throw the thing on the floor, but as he kept staring at Seijuro, he realized that he didn't take it out of his mouth. Instead, Reo heard a shaky sigh of resignation and Seijuro turned the other way, averting eye contact as his cheeks burned a fiery red. Reo nearly died at his expression and he was desperately trying not to fanboy over how cute he was, he knew he'd get mad again.

"Have you calmed down?" he asked. Seijuro remained silent and just began resting his head on Reo's shoulder, the only thing being heard was his slow breathing. Reo chuckled lightly and started rubbing his back, only for Seijuro to stiffen slightly at his touch.

"You don't have to baby me, Reo-nii-san," he mumbled, lifting his head up to look at him. Reo used his hand to gently guide his head back to his shoulder.

"Ara, you really need to relax, Sei-chan," he sighed, and continued to stroke his back soothingly. Seijuro balled up his fists as he clutched his older brother's shirt. This wasn't supposed to feel nice. He was supposed to be opposing this as he's not a child who needs comforting. But he didn't open his mouth to oppose and he just enjoyed the feeling instead. He didn't want it to happen but goddammit it just felt so nice and it rendered him powerless. He still tried to protest though.

"Reo-nii-san…"

"Hmm?"

"I…nngh…"

Yep, just as he thought. Seijuro couldn't bring himself to tell Reo to stop, and so he just exhaled deeply and cut off his sentence, beginning to realize he was feeling tired. Suddenly his eyes were drooping and he could barely keep them open. He mentally cursed as he felt himself being lulled to sleep. Damn that Reo. He knows when he does that it makes him drowsy.

"Ah, he fell asleep," said Shuuzo.

"That's amazing-ssu!" Ryouta exclaimed. "Reocchi, how did you calm him down so quickly?"

Reo blinked as he thought about it.

"Not much really," he answered. "I just know that if you rub Sei-chan's back, it makes him sleepy."

"The powers of Reo-nee-okaa-san! You're scary good when it comes to taking care of someone."

"Hmph. Flattery will get you everywhere, Kotarou."

"Well, I'll take him off you for now," Chihiro said, lifting his sleeping younger brother out of Reo's arms and into his. "Now that Seijuro's quieted down, we can continue eating."

"About time," Shōgo grumbled. Shuuzo grabbed him by the head before he even had a chance to touch his chopsticks.

"Y'know, it _is_ your fault for making him so damn upset in the first place," said Shuuzo. "So don't think I'm gonna let you off easy for that." A hand went up in front of Shuuzo. It was Chihiro, and he had an irritated look on his face.

"Actually Shuuzo, allow me to teach him a lesson. After all it was my brother he upset," he said darkly. Shōgo gulped as Chihiro transferred Seijuro to Shuuzo's lap and began cracking his knuckles.

"You might want to clench your teeth, Shōgo."

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

~O~

The fourteen of them finally exited the restaurant after finishing their food. Shuuzo ended up having to drag Shōgo's near lifeless body out on the street again, giving the GoM a strong sense of déjà vu. Chihiro went back to carrying Seijuro, who had been asleep for almost half an hour. He exhausted himself too much today, so it was probably best that he was taking a rest now. Just as they were about to turn towards the direction of the station, Chihiro bumped into someone while he was walking, causing the person to drop their phone onto the ground.

"Ah, I'm sorry about that," he said, bending down to retrieve the person's phone.

"Oh it's not a problem," the boy replied back. "Thank you very much."

There was something awfully familiar about this person's voice. Chihiro took a good look at the one he ran into. He looked around the GoM's age with an average height and pale white skin. His sleek black hair fell perfectly into place, covering one of his piercing grey eyes. The most notable details about him was the beauty mark right below his right eye and the necklace around his neck, a singular silver ring dangling from the chain. Chihiro narrowed his eyes. He now recognized who he was, but before he could say anything, Taiga beat him to it, staring at the teenager in surprise.

"Tatsuya, what're you doing here?!"

* * *

 **Okay and I'm done! I'm gonna take a mental break from this so I'll probably start working on this again by the end of the week. Hahaha the argument kinda escalated quickly but oh well #no regrets. I'll be back soon, but until then...**

 **Read and review please!**


	21. Child's play- Part 4

**WOW 65 WORDS AWAY FROM BEING EIGHT THOUSAND I SAID I WOULDN'T DO THIS ANYMORE. Ahem, yes I meant hello. Sorry, I've been out for longer than I expected. I had a test to study for...**

 ***ignores booing from crowd***

 **and then I had coursework to finish...**

 ***dodges a rotten tomato***

 **So I was pretty busy. But now I've finished (freaking finally) and I can get on with my life. And to 'One of your fans', you're very welcome! And I hope you don't mind, but I had two more mini episodes I had planned before your idea, so your chapter will be after that, haha, please bear with me!**

 **Another thing that happened is that I hit 5k views over the weekend. So thank you so much to everyone who reads this fluffy comedic mess of a fanfic from my twisted mind haha. With this chapter update, I'll also go past 100k words so I'm excited for that as well. Really happy right now guys! Anyway, this is the concluding part, I've kept you on a cliffhanger for ten days, so I don't think it's fair to keep you any longer. So without further ado...**

 **Let the chapter commence!**

* * *

Child's Play- Part 4

Well, today just kept getting weirder and weirder, didn't it? As if the circumstances weren't strange enough to begin with, they've run into a familiar face. Representing Yosen's basketball team as a Shooting Guard and identifying himself as Taiga's 'older brother', it was none other than Himuro Tatsuya himself.

"It's Muro-chin~"

"Tatsuya, what're you doing here?!"

"Yo, Taiga. Hello Atsushi," he said with a nonchalant wave of his hand. "I didn't expect to see you all here. What are you guys doing in Kyoto?"

"We should be asking _you_ that question!"

"I have relatives here," Tatsuya explained "so I was visiting them for the weekend."

"I see," said Tetsuya. "We're here because we were visiting Seijuro-kun and his brothers." Tatsuya looked around.

"Hmm? But I don't see Seijuro-kun anywhere," he said, a puzzled expression appearing on his face. "Where is he?"

"Uh, actually he's over there," said Daiki, pointing a finger back at Chihiro. Tatsuya stared at the sleeping toddler in confusion. He had bumped into Chihiro so quickly, he didn't even register the fact that he was carrying a child in his arms. More importantly, Daiki said that this was Seijuro?

"I'm sorry, I don't really think I understand the situation." Shintarou adjusted his glasses.

"I think it would be better if we explained properly, nanodayo."

 _ **5 minutes of explanation later…**_

"Okay, so I think I get it now," Tatsuya said, scratching his head as he pondered this predicament. "Basically what you're saying is that Seijuro-kun drank a magic potion and now he's a toddler?"

"Well, sorta," Kotarou said awkwardly. "He still has the mind of a fourteen year old, but he gives into childish impulses a lot, so there's really no telling how old Sei is mentally anymore."

"I see. Is there a reason why he's sleeping right now?" Shuuzo shrugged.

"Meh, he's a bit out of it today," he answered. "He's been cranky ever since he turned into a little kid, so I guess after a while he kinda just…gave up."

"Is it okay if I carry him?"

Chihiro looked down at Tatsuya, eyes flickering in surprise, but he nodded and handed him over.

"Be my guest," he said.

Tatsuya took Seijuro from him and carried him in his arms. Gazing down at the sleeping two-year-old, he gave a small fond smile before smoothing down his hair. While everyone watched him, Daiki elbowed Ryouta to get his attention.

"Yo, Ryouta, I think he's developing a bro-con," he whispered.

"Eh?" Ryouta exclaimed. "You think so?"

"Yeah, I mean look at him, he's already attached."

"Well, he's like an older brother to Taigacchi, so maybe he's like that for everyone-ssu."

By the time Seijuro was transferred over to Tatsuya, he had already begun stirring. It was only until a few seconds after did he open his eyes. When he did, he was face-to-face with Tatsuya, and the rest of them watched with baited breath, wondering what kind of words would be exchanged between the two. They expected Tatsuya to be awkward about it, but he just smiled.

"Hi, Seijuro-kun," he said.

Seijuro was about to say hello back, but he realized he couldn't be bothered to actually say it, and so he just lifted up his hand and gave him a half-hearted wave, putting it down at his side again.

"So I heard about your problem," Tatsuya continued. "It must be pretty frustrating to be stuck in this form, right?"

Seijuro blinked. He didn't expect him to be so understanding about this whole mess. He removed the pacifier from his mouth (which he realized he was still sucking on for some godforsaken reason which was totally embarrassing) and narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Wait, so you're not going to patronize me?" he asked. Tatsuya furrowed his brows.

"Why would I want to patronize you?" he said. "That's kind of mean, isn't it?"

Seijuro was so dumfounded by his reply that he could only manage a quiet "Oh" that unintentionally escaped his lips. For some strange reason, he was actually starting to warm up to Tatsuya. Before the boy said anything, Seijuro was planning on giving him a death glare like he did with everyone else in his family, but strangely enough, he appreciated Tatsuya for not laughing or patronizing him upon first glance. Maybe it was _just_ because he was the only one not to make fun of him today, but either way, he was beginning to like him the best.

"Ha? This is weird," said Daiki.

"What is?" asked Taiga.

"I think Seijuro's also developing a bro—mmph!" He was silenced by the pacifier that was aggressively shoved into his mouth by an irritated Seijuro.

"You shouldn't talk so much, Daiki," he said offhandedly, ignoring the muffled screams from his blue-haired cousin. Daiki yanked the thing out of his mouth and started coughing, the pacifier being jammed into his mouth with so much force that he was almost certain he'd swallow it. Tatsuya turned to the rest of them.

"So, where are you all headed now?" he asked.

"We're going back to our house," Chihiro answered.

"Yo Tatsuya, do you wanna hang out with us?" Taiga asked.

"I'd love to. If it's okay, that is," he said, glancing hesitantly over at Chihiro. Chihiro just shrugged in response.

"If you want to come along that's fine." Tatsuya smiled.

"Thank you very much," he said. "Now, shall we head back?"

~O~

After getting off the platform at the train station, the fifteen of them began making their way back to the house. In that time, Atsushi offered Seijuro another ride on his shoulders to make him feel better, and the redhead complied, sitting atop his cousin, while sucking on the third lollipop since they left the restaurant. Tatsuya shook his head in disapproval.

"Atsushi, I don't think it's a good idea to give him too many of those," he said cautiously. Atsushi just shrugged.

"It's fine Muro-chin~" he drawled.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "It's not good to give kids too much sugar, you know."

"It's not too much, just a couple, ne~?" Tatsuya looked reluctant, but he eventually gave in and sighed.

"I guess it's fine if you don't give him too many. Just be careful."

"Okaaaaaay~"

 _ **20 lollipops later…**_

Seijuro could not sit still at all.

He didn't know what came over him, but he just felt really energetic all of a sudden and he didn't know why. It was unlike him to be moving around so much but he couldn't stop. Eventually, Atsushi groaned at how antsy he was being and began to voice his complaints.

"Sei-chiiiiiin~" he whined. "You're too fidgety." Seijuro squirmed uncomfortably and flushed deep red at his accusation.

"Sorry, I can't really help it at the moment," he said. "Can you put me down? I think I want to walk instead."

Atsushi set the boy down on the ground and he began moving every part of his body, swinging his arms back and forth, swaying from side to side, even when he was stood still he was bouncing in place. Everyone looked at Seijuro in confusion.

"What the hell, does he need to go to the bathroom or somethin'?" Shōgo said. "Why is he moving around so damn much?"

"It's obvious, nanodayo," said Shintarou in his usual matter-of-fact tone. "Do you know how it takes less lethal poison to kill something small? This is like that, nanodayo. It takes less sugar to make a child hyperactive."

Seijuro looked so confused as to what was happening with his own body, staring down at himself as he bounced in place. It's not like he wanted to do this, but he needed a release for his energy. Reo of course thought it was the cutest thing ever, but he refrained from saying so out loud.

"Sei-chan, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said. "I just need to walk it off, I suppose."

"If you say so. But just make sure you stay close, okay?"

"Don't take his word for it," said Chihiro. "He said he'd stay close the last time and see where that got us. Reo, can you hold onto his hand please?" Seijuro was quick to protest.

"Chihiro-nii-san, I don't think that will be necessary," he said. Chihiro huffed in annoyance.

"So you say, but I'm not having another incident like this morning, so yes, it is necessary."

"But—"

"No buts. I'm not changing my mind."

"But Chihiro-nii-san, can't I just walk on my own?"

"No means no, Seijuro."

The redhead sighed. His brother clearly wasn't going to budge from his opinion, so he'd have to follow his orders. He held out his hand to Reo, who took it instantly, and they continued to walk on, the angered toddler mumbling curses under his breath for the umptillionth time that day, while the others secretly took photos. It wasn't until they were nearly home and they were waiting for the light to turn green so they could cross the street, that Seijuro looked down and noticed something.

"Reo-nii-san…" he said, tugging on his brother's hand. Reo looked down with questioning eyes.

"Hmm? What's the matter, Sei-chan?" Seijuro pointed to his brother's right shoe.

"Your laces have come undone," he stated. Reo blinked in surprise at the untied laces.

"Ara, they _have_ come undone," he said to himself before bending down and preoccupying himself with retying his shoes. Although doing so required him to let go of Seijuro's hand; the first mistake. Seijuro stood behind his brother as he waited for him to finish, when he looked to his right and saw a playground. Quite a few children were there and they were all having a good time playing around. Suddenly, his childish impulses resurfaced, and he did nothing to resist them; because by the time Reo had finished tying his shoelaces, he looked up and Seijuro was gone.

"You guys, where's Sei-chan?"

Everyone looked around and realized he had disappeared.

"Oh God please no," said Chihiro. "I cannot believe he's gone _again_. Reo, weren't you holding his hand?"

"I was!" Reo exclaimed. "But then I let go to tie my shoelaces and when I looked up he disappeared!"

"Geh, he's mastered Tetsu's Misdirection."

"I refuse to give my title as Phantom Sixth Man to a two-year-old, even if it is Seijuro-kun."

"Well we can't just stand around!" Kotarou cried out. "We gotta find him!"

"There is no need for that, nanodayo," said Shintarou. Satsuki blinked in surprise.

"Eh? Do you know where Sei-kun went?" Shintarou pointed to the street across from them.

"He's over there, nanodayo."

Everyone turned to where he was pointing to and saw Seijuro wandering into the playground. Everyone looked on in shock.

"What the—?! When did chibi get over there?!" Eikichi shouted.

"Sei-chan come back here!" Reo called out to him. Seijuro must've heard what he was saying, because he turned around and stared at the group. But then he gave them a mischievous grin before spinning on his heels and going straight towards the playground, vanishing amongst the other children. They all had to wait another thirty seconds before the traffic light signified them that they could cross the street before running across and reaching the playground.

"Where the hell did he go?" said Shuuzo.

"I don't know," Chihiro replied. "But Seijuro is really starting to annoy me this time."

"It'll be weird if we all go into the playground at once, so only a few people should go in and get him."

"That's a good plan," Chihiro murmured and so he randomly picked out four people from their group of fourteen.

"Taiga. Daiki. Tatsuya. Tetsuya. Can I depend on you to find him? I'd look for him myself but since you guys are smaller, I think you'll be able to get around better." The four nodded and dispersed once they entered the playground. Tatsuya and Daiki covered the jungle gym area while Tatsuya and Taiga looked for him on the ground. Tetsuya was crawling around in the jungle gym, looking for Seijuro high and low when he stopped in front of a little girl who was staring at him in curiosity.

"Hello there," Tetsuya said kindly. The little girl waved.

"Hello," she said back.

"Have you seen a little boy around here with red hair?"

The girl contemplated for a moment before her eyes lit up, seeming to have found an answer.

"Yes I did. He went into the tube before me," she replied, moving aside and revealing the tube she was referring to. Tetsuya smiled gratefully at the child.

"Thank you very much," he said. The girl nodded.

"You're welcome, Mister."

With that, Tetsuya crawled inside the entrance to the dark tube, hoping that on the other side, he might find Seijuro. Instead, he finds Daiki, who was looking for Seijuro on the other side of the jungle gym, but it appeared he didn't find him.

"Yo, Tetsu, you seen anything?" Daiki asks. Tetsuya shakes his head.

"Unfortunately I couldn't find him," he answered. "But a little girl did tell me he went this way, so I thought I might go on that lead." Daiki sighed and looked in the other direction, in the places where they hadn't covered and his eyes widened in realization. There, on the wobbly bridge, was Seijuro. He nudged Tetsuya to get his attention.

"Oi, I think I found him," Daiki said, pointing at the small red-haired boy who was walking across. Tetsuya stood up and brushed off his trousers.

"Let's go and get him then."

…

Seijuro was idly walking across the bridge as he traversed the jungle gym. For some reason, he was finding this experience to be awfully amusing. Playgrounds were actually pretty fun if one thought to try them out. Like a child determined to satisfy their curiosity, Seijuro really didn't care about the fact that he wandered off. He just sort of…did it. And he didn't have any intentions of leaving the place so soon either. So when he saw Tetsuya and Daiki appear in front of him, he stopped in his tracks.

"Seijuro-kun, there you are," said Tetsuya.

"What're you doing just disappearing like that?!" Daiki exclaimed. "Come on, we're going." The blank expression Seijuro was giving the two suddenly transitioned into a devious one, a playful smile slipping onto his face.

"Why don't we play a little game instead?" he said. "I think I'll call it 'Catch me if you can'."

"Wha—"

Before they could even respond, Seijuro had already taken off in the other direction, the two chasing after him when they realized what just happened. Seijuro ran across the jungle gym, skipping across the small stepping platforms that emerged from the ground before going off to the other side.

"Damn, for a kid he's pretty fast!" Daiki said.

"Indeed," said Tetsuya. "In that case, why don't you approach him from one side, and I'll approach him from the other so we can corner him off?"

"Ohhhh! Good idea Tetsu!"

With that plan in mind, Daiki headed the other way while Tetsuya kept running towards the redhead in the same direction.

Seijuro halted in place when Daiki appeared in front of him, taking a step back to distance himself away, but then turned around to see Tetsuya inching closer to him as well.

"Seijuro-kun, please don't move," said Tetsuya. Seijuro looked from Tetsuya to Daiki and then back to Tetsuya again and then smirked, side-stepping as he dodged their grab attempts and went down the spiral slide on his immediate right.

"Ah. He got away," said Tetsuya. Daiki growled in annoyance.

"Not on my watch he doesn't!" he shouted. He also went to his immediate right, going down the slide as well, leaving Tetsuya to stare in bewilderment.

Taiga and Tatsuya were on the ground, searching for the boy. He hadn't been found yet, so they were starting to think that perhaps he wasn't in this area.

"Yo, Tatsuya, I think maybe he left already," said Taiga. Tatsuya sighed.

"You think so? Maybe we should try looking over near the swings again."

Suddenly, they heard a noise and turned to find themselves positioned in front of the spiral slide, with someone coming down it. They were surprised to find Seijuro sliding down and they barely reacted when he quickly jumped off and started running elsewhere. Taiga reached out to grab him but missed, Seijuro being just out of reach to him. He fell down on the ground and groaned in pain, but that was the least of his problems. Out of nowhere a voice called out to him.

"OI TAIGA! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Taiga looked up and saw Daiki sliding down at high speeds, directly at him. He immediately panicked and tried to get up, but before he could even move, Daiki had already landed on top of him, pushing the boy teenager back onto the ground, and Daiki making a crash-landing on his back.

"I told you to get out of the way you idiot!" Daiki exclaimed angrily. Taiga shoved him off of his body.

"It's your fault for crashing into me!" he argued back. "What the hell were even doing on the slide anyway?! We're supposed to be looking for Seijuro!"

"I was!"

"Don't give me that B.S.!"

"If you two could please stop arguing," Tetsuya said in annoyance. "The more time we waste here, the longer it'll take for us to find Seijuro-kun."

The two basketball idiots glared at each other for a while before turning away, finally getting over their petty argument.

"Well, let's hope he didn't get too far this time," said Tatsuya. "He went right past us when he came down the slide, so we'll start by looking over there."

"Yosh, let's go find him!" Taiga ran forward and then shrank back when he realized he accidentally knocked a kid over onto the ground. The small boy fell back and landed on his backside, wincing in pain as he hit the ground. Taiga was immediately flustered.

"Oh crap, s-sorry kid, I didn't see you there," he stammered in embarrassment. He expected the boy to cry, but he actually didn't and just brushed off his trousers when he stood up.

"It's okay, Mister," the boy replied. "You should be careful though." Taiga sweat-dropped. So now he was being lectured by a freaking kindergartener?

"What are all of you grown-ups doing in the playground?" the boy asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

"Uh, we're looking for someone," Taiga answered awkwardly.

"Who are you looking for?" Taiga scratched his head and began to describe the person.

"Um, a small boy about this tall," he said, putting his hand about two and a half feet off the ground "and he's got red hair and red eyes." The boy nodded in realization.

"Ohhh, you mean _that_ boy."

"That boy?"

" _That_ boy." The little kid pointed upwards and the four followed his gaze, only for that gaze to be replace with one of horror as they all spotted Seijuro on the top of the monkey bars.

"What the—?! How the hell did he get up there?!" Taiga shouted.

"Well forget about that, we have to get him!" said Daiki. So they all ran over to him, hoping that they'll actually catch him this time.

…

Once Seijuro had lost Tatsuya and Daiki on the jungle gym, he made his way over to the monkey bars and climbed all the way to the top. The others were way too easy to lose, due to the fact that Seijuro was able to easier manoeuvre the jungle gym due to his small size, and so the game got kind of boring after a while. He swung his feet as he sat on top of one of the bars. Where were they anyway?

"Oi, Seijuro!"

Seijuro turned his head to find the four of them running toward him. He crossed his arms in disapproval.

"It's about time you showed up," he said, unimpressed with their unpunctual timing. "Where have you been?"

"Don't 'Where have you been' us!" Daiki cried. "We've been looking all over for you! Now come down from there!"

"Hmm? I should come down?" Seijuro slid backwards and let go of the bar, the only thing hanging onto it were his legs.

"You mean like this?"

"Seijuro-kun you shouldn't do that, you could hurt yourself," said Tatsuya worriedly, hoping that this boy wouldn't accidentally let go and fall. Seijuro continued to hang upside-down and flashed a grin.

"You all look quite odd from this perspective," Seijuro said absent-mindedly as he allowed his arms to dangle on either side. Taiga gritted his teeth.

"All the blood's gonna go to your head if you keep hanging upside-down like that!" he said. "Just come down for there!" Seijuro sat back upright on the bar and then decided to hang from the bar by his arms, this time, the rest of his body was hanging while he held onto the metal with his hands.

"Hmm… Alright, I'll come down. But on one condition." Taiga heaved out a pained sigh before pinching the bridge of his nose.

"And what would that be?" he asked unenthusiastically.

"You have to play one more game with me."

"Haaa?! No more games, Seijuro!" Daiki yelled from down below. "Just come down already."

"Just one last game. It's very simple."

"Fine! What's the game called?" said Taiga. Seijuro smirked.

"Catch."

"Huh?"

Without warning, Seijuro released his grip and let go of the bar. Suddenly Taiga darted forward and leaped, landing below Seijuro and catching the boy just in time, before he hit the ground. Taiga landed on his back as he skidded across the ground, coming to a halt a few feet from where he leapt. Seijuro looked down at Taiga impassively.

"Nice reflexes," he said before hopping off and grabbing Tetsuya's hand.

"Okay, I'm done now. We can leave."

Taiga stood up from the ground as the other three began walking back, his face pulling into an irritated frown while a vein popped in his forehead.

"Goddamn kids…"

~O~

After the four of them came back with Seijuro and the redhead got yet another scolding from Chihiro, they arrived back at the house with (thankfully) no other 'surprises'. They were all now in the living room, watching as Shuuzo lost yet another game of checkers to Seijuro.

"I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS."

Seijuro tilted his head to the side in mock innocence.

"Can't believe what, Shuuzo-san?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about!" he exclaimed from the other side of the coffee table. "It's bad enough that I lose to you so much already, but now I'm losing to you when you're only like two. Do you know how embarrassing it is to lose to a two-year-old in checkers?"

"That's what you get for harassing me today."

"Hmph! You're not even gonna pretend like you haven't done anything wrong to make me feel better? Where's the 'I was only playing how I usually do' that comes out of your mouth when you win over me?"

"Well maybe if you had left me in a good mood today I could've gone easy on you."

"That's a lie and you know it."

"Yeah, I know. I still would have won."

"You're a little jerk, you know that?"

"You're the last person I want to hear that from."

Their conversation was interrupted by a meow that came from the entrance into the living room. It was Nuisance, who had finally come out of her hiding place after being so badly startled this morning due to the bright flashing lights and whatnot. As she slinked past, Shintarou involuntary put his feet on the couch, eliciting a loud snort from Daiki and Shōgo. Shuuzo patted her head once she had made her way to the coffee table.

"Ahhh, long time no see, Nuisance," he said. Nuisance purred in response and looked over to the other side of the coffee table, where Seijuro was waiting for her.

"Nuisance, come here," he said, patting the space in front of him. The feline stood and stared, wondering who this small child was in front of her. He frowned. Nuisance always came to him when he called, but this time, she didn't even move. He tried again.

"Nuisance?"

Still nothing.

He moved towards her and put his hand out. She began shrinking away, taking a defensive stance as she began to hiss.

"Oi, Seijuro, I don't think you should get any closer to her," said Shuuzo. Seijuro paid him no mind.

"I'm trying to pet her, Shuuzo-san," he said, moving even closer to the black cat.

"I don't even think she recognizes who you are."

"She might recognize my scent at the very least. If I could just get close enough…"

Seijuro slowly moved his hand closer and closer until it was right in front of her. He then tried to make her pick up on his scent, but the second his hand touched her face, she scampered away. He stared in surprise and then dejectedly put his hand down.

"Not even my own pet knows who I am," he said, sulking as some of the GoM tried to hold in their laughter. Shuuzo laughed and patted his head.

"Well can you blame her? If I was a cat, even then I'd find it pretty hard to believe that my owner transformed into a toddler."

The redhead sighed. His mood was put off again.

"I suppose it can't really be helped if she doesn't recognize you," said Tatsuya. "I'm sure she'll probably figure it out if you give her some time."

Seijuro climbed onto the couch and pouted, folding his arms as he eyed the entrance to the living room where his cat had run out of. He wished at least Nuisance would help relieve him of some of the stress that he's had throughout the day. But of course, the universe just decided to have exactly zero percent sympathy for this poor boy. Tatsuya tried to distract him from that by starting up a conversation.

"So, Seijuro-kun, what's it like being a two-year-old so far?" he asked. Seijuro kept his gaze elsewhere as he gave his response to the question.

"It's irritating," he answered. "I've been mocked since morning, a lot of adults have tried to baby me, and I can't reach anything."

"Ah, that's a shame."

"More importantly, no one takes me seriously anymore."

"That's too bad," said Tatsuya.

"Well, everyone except you."

Tatsuya looked down at Seijuro in mild surprise.

"Is that so?" he said. Seijuro nodded.

"Yes. You're the only one who's been accepting of this mess, so I'd like to thank you for being understanding…unlike _some_ people." He looked over at the others suggestively, assuming that they knew what he was implying, which they did, looking as surprised at his accusations as a deer in headlights.

"Uwaaaah! Sei-chan's mad at us!" Reo sobbed.

"A lot of this is Dai-chan's fault," said Satsuki, looking rather disapprovingly at her childhood friend and cousin.

"Haaa?!" he grunted in annoyance. "Don't be dumb, Satsuki! If anyone's to blame, it's Shōgo."

"What the hell are you on about?" Shōgo exclaimed.

"You know exactly what I'm on about! If you hadn't made Seijuro so mad in the restaurant then he wouldn't be like this!"

"And so what if I did?! That doesn't mean that you didn't play a part! Quit tryna play innocent!"

"Fine! It was a freaking group effort then! Right, Shintarou?"

"Watch your mouth. I was never a part of this to begin with, nanodayo."

"Maybe next time you all would choose your words wisely," said Tetsuya.

"Haha, maybe so," said Kotarou, watching Seijuro continue to converse with the Yosen Shooting Guard. "I think Sei likes talking with him better."

"Ehhh? Sei-chin should talk to us more~. Muro-chin I'll crush you."

"Taiga-kun, your brother is monopolizing Seijuro-kun. I want to have Seijuro-kun too."

"You can have me instead, Tetsuyacchi~!"

"Ryouta-kun, please don't open your mouth."

"EH?!"

Tatsuya looked over at Seijuro's relatives, who were glaring intensely at the two.

"Um, Seijuro-kun, are you sure it's okay for me to be talking to you?" Seijuro waved a hand to dismiss his question.

"Nonsense," he said. "You should just ignore them. They're just jealous, I suppose."

"Really? Then maybe you should go back them if that's the case."

Seijuro looked back at his family members, who were continuing to watch them from the side. He smirked deviously.

"Actually, I have a better idea," he said quietly. Tatsuya blinked.

"I'm sorry? What was that you just said?" Seijuro looked up at him and smiled innocently.

"Nothing," he said. "I was just thinking how nice it is to talk with you."

"Oh? Thank you, Seijuro-kun. That's a nice thing to say."

Seijuro could feel the glares intensifying. Winding up his family members could be so entertaining sometimes.

"You know what?" Seijuro said, enjoying the amount of dark aura being emitted by his cousins and brothers. "I think I like you the best." Seijuro could hear Atsushi's eating style become more aggressive, the crunching sounds coming from the maiubo he was eating becoming louder and louder.

"I'm glad you think so," said Tatsuya, deciding to pat his head. Another evil little smirk was directed towards his relatives in a successful attempt to piss them off, the look on his face practically screaming 'This could be us but you playin'. _Seijuro's just toying with us_ , they thought. And he didn't stop there. He was going to really make them pay, and he knew exactly how to finish them off. His family members, especially Reo, observed as the redhead grabbed onto Tatsuya's shirt.

 _You better not._

"Tatsuya-kun, Tatsuya-kun…"

 _Don't answer him._

"Ah, is there something you wanted to tell me?"

 _Tatsuya for the love of God!_

Seijuro clung to him and gave him the purest smile anyone had ever seen.

"AISHITERU~!"

Complete chaos broke out amongst the large group. Shintarou's glasses cracked severely; Atsushi dropped his maiubo on the floor; Ryouta nearly passed out; Satsuki and Tetsuya were a blushing mess; blood spurt out of Reo's nose faster than the speed of light and he collapsed on the floor, leaving anyone who wasn't as affected to keep him alive. Meanwhile, Seijuro let go of Tatsuya's shirt and folded his arms as he beamed triumphantly. Revenge is sweet. Meanwhile, Tatsuya just sweat-dropped.

"Oh…he was doing it on purpose…"

"Guys, Reo's dying!"

"Sei-chan, how could you do something so cruel…?"

"Ah, Reo-san's breathed his last."

"REOOOOOOOOOO!"

~O~

"Sei-chan, how could you do something so adorable?! I wish you would say something like that to me, you know! Cuddle with me instead!"

"Reo-nii-san, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Seijuro was back in the living room after getting a cup of juice from the kitchen. Incidentally enough, he would have liked to stay in the kitchen, but he soon got annoyed by the situation when, first of all, he realized the cups were all either drying by the kitchen sink or in the actual cupboard. Considering the fact that he wasn't even three feet tall, he couldn't even reach the kitchen sink, let alone a cupboard, and so he just stood there staring up for a whole minute as he wondered what he should do. Eventually, he had to ask Tetsuya to get a cup for him, and he could swear the teal-haired boy was sparkling, saying something along the lines of "YES OF COURSE I CAN GET THE CUP SINCE I AM TALLER I WILL GET IT SEIJURO-KUN I AM THE TALLER ONE AFTER ALL" or something like that. He wasn't really sure, Tetsuya was way too excited to speak slowly for some reason. Yet even then, Tetsuya could barely reach the cupboard. Which is when Taiga came in and told them to step aside, offering his own cup-reaching abilities to the small toddler with a particular smugness to his face that was really irritating to Seijuro. Of course, before Taiga could even do anything, Atsushi just stepped forward out of nowhere and got the cup for Seijuro, leaving the other two to stare after him as he walked out of the kitchen. Seijuro was already humiliated enough for his height, so as soon as he poured himself some juice, he was out, only to get harassed by Reo about that 'display of affection' towards Tatsuya some minutes before. Seijuro sighed. He couldn't believe he was saying this but…

"If I let you cuddle with me, will you stop complaining, Reo-nii-san?"

"Kyaaaaaaaa~! Sei-chan do you mean it?!"

"Sometime _before_ I change my mind would be nice, Reo-nii-san."

Reo immediately began hugging him, which completely took the younger brother by surprise, since he didn't expect to be swept up into someone's arms so suddenly. Reo was in complete bliss at that moment.

"You're so adorable Sei-chan!" Reo squealed as he nuzzled his younger brother. Meanwhile Seijuro, who was at the receiving end of the stick, could barely breathe.

"You're suffocating me, Reo-nii-san," he managed to say. He felt like his lungs were being crushed. Chihiro pulled Seijuro out of Reo's clutches with one hand while he casually flipped through TV channels with the other.

"Stop that, Reo. You're going to kill him."

"Aww Chihiro let me hug a little longer~"

"No, you're crushing him to death."

Reo tried pulling Seijuro back to him, while Chihiro was pulling him away, making Seijuro more uncomfortable than he's ever been. They were literally pulling him back and forth like two children fighting over a teddy bear, and if they pulled Seijuro any more than that, the redhead was one hundred percent certain that they'd rip his limbs off.

"Can you guys maybe _not_ do that?" he said from in between them. "I'd prefer keeping my arms and legs attached to my body if you don't mind."

They looked at Seijuro, each other, shrugged and let go. Fortunately, he landed back on the ground. Unfortunately for Nuisance, who had re-entered the living room, Seijuro had landed on her tail, and she let out an ear-piercing screech before jumping on the table, knocking over the cup of apple juice, which fell off the table and spilled all over Seijuro. He grimaced as the cold liquid seeped through his clothes.

"Aaah Sei-chan! You're soaking wet!"

"I am well aware of the state of my clothes," he responded bitterly as he put the cup back on the coffee table. Chihiro shook his head.

"Well, I guess you'll have to change. Shuuzo, would you mind going with him to get his clothes upstairs?"

"Yeah no prob." Reo perked up as the two got up.

"Oh! Make him wear the onesie!"

Seijuro stood in place and blinked in confusion when he realized that everyone in the living room stopped what they were doing and were staring at him.

"Ara? Sei-chin has a onesie~?"

"Seijurocchi you bought a onesie?!"

"Sei-kun that's so cuuuuute!"

"I'd totally pay to see him in a onesie."

"Seijuro-kun, it is of utmost importance that you wear the onesie so I can take a picture."

The redhead stepped back as his cousins started getting closer to him. He didn't really care what he wore in the beginning, but considering the fact that they'll be taking photos of him, he had completely changed his mind.

"Stay away from me, all of you," Seijuro threatened. His cousins paid him no mind and kept going towards him, devious smiles plastered on all of their faces (minus Shintarou, who wanted no part of this, and Atsushi, who couldn't be bothered). Seijuro narrowed his eyes.

"I guess it's time to play another game of 'Catch me if you can'," he said, and started running. All of his cousins ran after him as he fled to a different room. They chased him all over the house, Seijuro being too small for them to catch, since he could fit in all the nook and crannies. He sure did give his cousins a run for their money, making them search high and low for him in this unwanted game of hide-and-seek. After a while, they lost track of him, and Seijuro took that opportunity to go into his room, and quietly shut the door.

"It seems I finally shook them off," he murmured, turning and moving towards his bed. Obviously the lights were off, since he didn't want to draw attention to his temporary hiding place, so he had to try and move around as carefully as possible, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. In the midst of walking around, he ran into something and stumbled forward. It was his lucky item from his cousins' previous visit from many weeks ago, the large teddy bear that Shintarou had given him.

He stood in place as he eyed the large bear up and down. It was so much bigger from this new perspective, it was even taller than him. Unacceptable.

On a whim, Seijuro lifted his foot in the air and used it to push the teddy bear down onto its back. There was no way a plush toy was going to make Seijuro feel insecure about his height. He was just about ready to turn back and leave his room when he realized that if he went outside now, he'd be caught for sure, so it'd be best to stay in there and wait until the coast was clear. Then, he could make a break for it. So, keeping that in mind, he flopped down onto the large bear and waited…and waited…and waited. Five minutes went by, then ten, soon fifteen minutes had gone by, and Seijuro hadn't moved at all. As he continued to lay on top of the large plush toy, he unintentionally let out a large yawn. Oh no, his eyes were starting to get droopy again…

…

Shuuzo, tired from running around the house and looking for Seijuro, had given up hope and decided to check the last place he'd think to look for the boy; his bedroom. He slowly opened the door and peered inside.

"Oi, Seijuro, come on out we've been looking for you everywhere," he called out into the room. He didn't get an answer, but he did hear a sound. It was almost inaudible, but it was loud enough to hear. It sounded like breathing. Wanting to find the source, he went behind Seijuro's bed and looked down. There, sleeping on top of the large teddy bear, was the very person he was looking for. Shuuzo bent down and gazed at the sleeping redhead, grinning slightly as he patted his head softly.

"Found you~" he whispered in sing-song and lifted Seijuro off the teddy bear, smirking in victory as he carried him in his arms.

When Shuuzo came downstairs with Seijuro five minutes later, he had already changed Seijuro's clothes, and so he was wearing the onesie that Reo kept talking about. Even though Seijuro made sure that the outfits his brothers picked out at the store were as 'sophisticated' as they could possibly be for a toddler, there was one item of clothing that Seijuro let Reo pick out, just because he wouldn't stop pestering him about it. It was already cute enough that Seijuro was wearing a onesie, but it was even more nosebleed-worthy that it was a Tiger onesie. Yes, you read that correctly; a Tiger onesie. It was orange with black stripes, it had a hood with the Tiger ears attached, heck, it even had the little tail at the back. Everyone crowded around Shuuzo the minutes they saw what Seijuro was wearing.

"So you really made him wear it…"

"This is way too good to be true."

"Oi, I think I heard Shintarou's glasses cracking."

"D-Don't be stupid. It would be wise for you to stop making up such ridiculous stories, nanodayo."

"I must capture this on my phone. Ryouta-kun, please move out of the way."

"Ehhh? I want to see as well-ssu!"

"Sei-chin kawaii~"

"Tetsu-kun, can you send the photo to me later?"

Shuuzo put a finger to his lips.

"Keep it down all of you," he said. "Can't you see that he's sleeping?"

"Why is he sleeping again?" asked Taiga. "Didn't he take a nap in the restaurant?"

"A fact of interest is that two-year-olds tend to sleep for more than ten hours a night and take frequent naps during the day, nanodayo."

"Ohhh, I get it-ssu," said Ryouta. "He has the mind of a fourteen-year-old but he still has the sleep patterns of a little kid. No wonder he's so tired." Kotarou piped up from the back of the group.

"Well, if I transformed into a two-year-old, was harassed by two college girls, was forced to eat something I didn't like, spit-up on someone, and have an argument with the same person in the middle of a restaurant, all while being ridiculed for my height and age, I'd sleep too." Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Amen," they all said simultaneously.

Tatsuya came up from behind the rainbow group and peered at Seijuro.

"Are you going to take him upstairs to sleep?" he asked. Shuuzo shook his head as he made his way to the couch.

"Nah, I think it would be better for us to watch him," he said, sitting down. "I feel like it would be a bad idea for us to leave him alone upstairs."

"I'll take him off you, I think you've done more than enough," said Chihiro.

"Eh, it's no problem," said Shuuzo, handing the sleeping boy over to his older brother. "At least he's settled down."

As the rest of the continued to watch TV, Tatsuya's phone began to ring.

"Ah, excuse me," he said, and left the living room to go answer the call somewhere else. When he left, everyone else was still watching TV. Daiki stretched his arms.

"Ahhh I'm so tired," he yawned.

"Daiki, at least cover your mouth when you yawn, nanodayo," Shintarou mumbled from the other couch.

"I'm sleepy as well~" said Atsushi, taking after Daiki and yawing loudly mere moments later. Shintarou shook his head.

"I said cover your mouth, nanodayo."

"Eh~? Shin-chin is too bossy~."

"OI."

"You know what? I'm kinda tired too," said Taiga.

"I am as well," said Tetsuya.

Shōgo and Ryouta were already gone and Satsuki was on the brink, so they didn't give their responses. It didn't take long for everyone else to fall asleep shortly after. The older five looked on as all of their younger cousins slept peacefully on the other side of the living room.

"Well isn't that nice?" Shuuzo laughed. "They're _all_ asleep."

"I agree," Chihiro replied. "That means they're all quiet."

Kotarou began to rub his eyes.

"Y'know, taking a short nap doesn't seem so bad right now," he said. Eikichi nodded in agreement.

"I hear ya," he said. "I think I'll sleep too."

"Sleeping sounds nice right about now," said Reo. Chihiro and Shuuzo exchanged looks.

"Should we…"

"Meh, why not?"

With that, they all dropped out of consciousness one by one, leaving everyone to be sleeping peacefully as the room grew silent.

…

It had been about twenty minutes and Tatsuya finally returned to the living room, putting his phone back into his pocket.

"Guys? My relatives called and asked me if I could help with dinner so I should probably…"

He trailed off when he entered the living room and saw everyone in deep slumber. The fourteen of them were all knocked out cold, everyone sleeping in various positions, some snoring, some not, some clinging to others, and some keeping their distance. They even left the TV on, leaving it to blare as the commercials began to play. Tatsuya chuckled softly.

"I'll just let myself out," he murmured and, without another word, turned off the lights, turned off the TV, and smiled fondly at the large group before walking to the entrance and out the door.

* * *

 **Alternate ending?**

It was already morning when everyone began to wake up. Shuuzo got up and went to switch on the lights, making everyone in the room groan in despair at the sudden assault to their eyes.

"Geez, how long were we out?" he said, scratching his head as he tried to make sense of the time on his watch.

"I feel like I was sleeping forever," said Taiga.

"I'll say," Chihiro responded. "Seijuro, are you awa—"

Seijuro wasn't in his lap anymore. Chihiro looked around him, on the other couches, and under the coffee table, making everyone stare at him in confusion.

"Chihiro-san, what are you doing?" asked Tetsuya. Chihiro furrowed his eyebrows.

"I can't find Seijuro," he said. "Where is he anyway?"

Everyone shared looks of surprise and were about to start searching when they heard a familiar voice.

"I've been awake for quite some time actually."

The thirteen of them swivelled their heads towards the kitchen where Seijuro was emerging with a tray of drinks. But, he was back to his regular self again and he had changed back into his normal clothes. Everyone stared.

"Sei-kun, how long has it been since you returned to normal?" Satsuki asked. The boy shrugged.

"I'm not sure," he said. "I just woke up and I was already like this. I suppose the twenty-four hours are up."

"Aww no fair," Reo pouted. "I wanted Sei-chan to be a little kid for a bit longer."

"I refuse," he replied flatly. "I am not enduring another day of suffering just for another's entertainment. Even if it is Reo-nii-san."

"Boo you're no fun~."

"Anyway, never mind that now." Seijuro held out the tray of cups to his family members. "I made tea for everyone while you were asleep. Would you all care to have some?"

Everyone happily obliged and took a cup each. Then, with cups in hand, they all took long sips of the drink, and Seijuro watched as they all twisted their faces in disgust.

"This tea tastes like shit," Shōgo grimaced. "What the hell did you put in here?"

Suddenly, they all started to glow blue and light began pouring forth from their bodies. Smoke filled the kitchen as the light grew brighter and brighter. Then, once the light disappeared and the smoke cleared, thirteen two-year-olds were standing in the middle of the kitchen. Shuuzo looked at himself and everyone else in horror.

"What the—Seijuro what did you do?!"

Seijuro smirked.

"Oh? I wonder."

"Stop playing around, Seijuro," Chihiro said. "What did you put in the drink?" The redhead held up a glass bottle filled with glowing blue liquid. Kotarou's mouth flew open when he recognized the bottle to be the magic potion. Seijuro must've found it lying around where he left it in the kitchen and poured some of it into all of their drinks, when they were all sleeping. It seemed tea wasn't the only think he went to go and do.

"We're stuck as two-year-olds for twenty-four hours-ssu!" Ryouta wailed. Seijuro merely chuckled darkly as he sipped his own untainted tea.

"That you are, Ryouta. Karma's a bitch, isn't it?"

"Ehhh?! Who taught our Sei-chan to swear?!"

"Kotarou this is all your fault!"

"My fault?!"

"Next time you think twice about bringing home strange liquids!"

Seijuro stood up from the chair he was sitting on and walked out of the kitchen.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be going out. And don't bother following me, I'm taking the house keys. Enjoy your twenty-four hours."

"Seijuro, where are you going?!"

"Sei~! Don't leave us here!"

"OI! SEIJUROOOOOOO!"

* * *

 **Booyah! Finally finished it! Hahaha this story was wild. Thank you for reading it till the end all of you. Now, I'll probably start work on the next chapter tomorrow, but until then, you know what to do...**

 **Read and review please!**


	22. A harmonious match

***looks off into the distance with a pained expression* It's been 84 years...**

 **HELLO! I am _SO_ sorry that I've been away for fifteen days?! (Christ almighty!) I got caught up in coursework again and other essays so I literally could not even touch my USB. That, and also the fact that I spent a whole week worrying about the plot until I realized...oh...I WAS THINKING ABOUT THE WRONG GODDAMN CHAPTER I'M SO ASHAMED. Anyway, I have literally no self-control so this chapter got up to 8k words again, but I don't care. **

**Now, to get down to business...**

 **To xXTheLeaderOfTheInsanestClanXx: MYA I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU, YOU GOT AN ACCOUNT SO I CAN ACTUALLY TALK TO YOU I LOVE YOU. AND I MISSED YOU TOO! YOUR REVIEW MADE MY DAY!**

 **To the Anonymous guest who also reviewed: Please don't apologize your question isn't useless and I'm not offended in the slightest! I love answering questions! As for your answer, I am indeed a girl. If anyone else was curious, I do have basic information about myself on my profile if you're interested. But I have a question for YOU Anon-san. What is _your_ gender? Also, how do you perceive my writing style and personality? If you read this I'd love to know! Just drop your answer in a review or something!**

 **Now, for the more important matter at hand...ENJOY THE CHAPTER!**

* * *

A harmonious match

It was a mellow day in the Rakuzan household. It was just a little past nine o'clock, yet everyone was awake. They were all in the kitchen, bustling around as each person tried to help with breakfast. There was this breakfast casserole that Reo had been meaning to try out for some time, so he was prepping it near the stove, Seijuro helping alongside him with a few others while the rest of them made sure that Satsuki, Shintarou or Eikichi didn't take a step near the food before they kill everyone. Once the food was ready, they all sat around in the living room, eating and talking amongst themselves.

"It's such a lovely day outside, isn't it?" said Reo, staring out the window with a dreamy look on his face.

"I think it's a lovely day to eat some food," Eikichi grunted. Reo frowned.

"Why is it that you're always thinking about food?" he sighed in exasperation. "You're ten times worse than those two." By 'those two', he was referring to Taiga and Daiki, making a vague gesture towards them as they continued to stuff their faces.

"In my opinion," said Chihiro "the best thing to do on a day like this is go outside and just sit on the park bench and listen to music or read a novel." The mention of music reminded Seijuro of something, his eyes widening in realization when he remembered what day it was. Just as he thought. Today was Sunday. In other words…

"I'm supposed to meet Kazu-san at the music shop today," he announced suddenly. It had almost slipped his mind, since he was so preoccupied with…other things the day before. Well, after being a toddler for a whole day, you start to forget details. Everyone in the room eyed Seijuro questioningly.

"Ah? Kazu? Who's he?" asked Daiki.

"Ehhh? Could it possibly be that Seijurocchi's made a friend?"

"Ryouta-kun, for the sake of your life I wouldn't sound so surprised if I were you."

"He's a musician, nanodayo," said Shintarou. "I've seen one of his performances at the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan. I found it quite interesting, nanodayo."

"Sei-chin knows someone famous~?"

"Have you seen any of his performances, Sei-kun?" Seijuro pondered this question for a moment.

"Well, if you consider performing in one, then yes, I have seen one of his performances."

"What the hell, you were _in_ one?"

"It's a long story."

"So have you seen him around lately?" asked Taiga. Seijuro looked off to the side.

"We meet at this music shop every Sunday, so I was hoping to go there today…"

"Why don't you go then?" said Chihiro. Seijuro blinked.

"Well, I'd love to, but then I'd be leaving you all here at home, wouldn't I?"

"Then take them with you," said Chihiro, motioning to the others. "You all can go for a bit of fresh air, and we older people can hold down the fort."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, are you sure?" Shuuzo said, turning to face the grey-haired teenager in disbelief. If there was anything that Shuuzo knew about this group of rainbow kids, it's that if someone isn't watching them, they get into trouble. A lot of trouble.

"If that's the case," said Chihiro "would you like to go with them then?"

"O-Oi, hang on a second…"

"Well, sometimes I can barely keep up with Seijuro, let alone eight of our other cousins. You're much better at mediating than the rest of us, so it would only make sense that you watch over them, if you don't mind."

"Hmph, _I_ mind," mumbled Shōgo. Shuuzo immediately whacked him across the head, Shōgo falling to the ground in pain.

"Y'know what? I think I'll go," Shuuzo decided. "It gives me more time to beat the crap outta this shithead right here."

Said shithead was grumbling as Shuuzo picked him up from the floor by his shirt while everyone just looked on in pity. Well, at least if Shuuzo was around, it'd prevent any predicaments from happening. Chihiro nodded.

"Then, I'll leave you to it."

They waited until it was three o'clock in the afternoon before the group started getting their things ready. Once everyone had their shoes on, Kotarou, Eikichi, Reo and Chihiro saw them to the door. Chihiro went through a checklist with everyone, making sure that had their things together and nothing was forgotten. This was mainly because of his usual older brother instincts but it was also to make sure that Shuuzo had the least trouble with them. Even though he was almost certain that he'd be able to handle it, he just wanted to make sure.

"Seijuro knows the way to the music store, so he'll lead you there. Seijuro, can I trust you to take them there?"

"We'll be fine, Chihiro-nii-san. I can lead them there."

"If you say so. We'll see you guys later."

"Bye Sei-chan~! Be good!"

"Yes, I will," said Seijuro, despite knowing that he was the last person they needed to worry about keeping out of trouble. Kotarou excitedly waved to the departing group.

"Later guys!" he said. Everyone waved their goodbyes and soon they were out of house, destination music shop.

~O~

Fifteen minutes later, the ten of them arrived at that familiar music shop downtown. Seijuro lit up when his eyes fell upon the small complex, tugging Shuuzo's sleeve to notify him that he found the establishment.

"Shuuzo-san, we've arrived," he said.

"Oi, guys, we're here," Shuuzo declared to the rest of the group, halting them in their tracks. They all looked up at the music shop they stopped in front of.

"So, this is the music shop that Seijuro-kun goes to, isn't it?" asked Tetsuya. Seijuro nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "I enjoy coming here every Sunday. I apologize for dragging you all here, I hope it's not too much of an inconvenience."

"Seijurocchi, why should you be sorry?" Ryouta said, looking appalled at the thought of him feeling guilty. "It's great to go on outings-ssu!"

"I suppose I agree, nanodayo," Shintarou said, pushing up his glasses. "It's no good to stay in the house the whole day. Besides, it might be good to check out their merchandise, nanodayo."

"Easy for you to say," Daiki grumbled. "You and Seijuro are the only two out of us that actually play an instrument. What are we meant to do?"

"Educate yourself. You might learn something about instruments, nodayo."

"Shuu-chiiiiiin, can we get ice cream after?"

Shuuzo sighed.

"Fine. We can get some later, for now, let's just go inside."

"Hmph! You guys can go ahead," said Shōgo. "I'd rather do somethin' else." He suddenly felt something grab his shoulder. Looking down at it, he gulped when he saw that it was Shuuzo's hand.

"Ah? I don't think I heard you correctly," Shuuzo said with an unusual cheerfulness, a sickly-sweet smile growing on his face. "Do you think you can repeat what you just said…Shōgo-kun~?"

The grip on his shoulder got tighter, the ash-haired teenager wincing in pain. He pressed his lips into a firm, thin line before turning the other way.

"I didn't say anything…" he mumbled. Shuuzo nodded in approval and let go of his shoulder.

"Good," he said. "Now that we have no other objections, let's go inside."

…

They entered the music shop, the bell above the store entrance giving that merry jingle that Seijuro liked. He went over to the front desk, where the shop owner was stood, just finishing up a purchase with another customer.

"Thank you for shopping," the man said to the woman before she smiled and walked out of the shop, a flute case in hand. When the man looked up from the cash register, he spotted Seijuro and grinned.

"Well, well, if it isn't Mr. Virtuoso himself!" he said, laughing heartily as Seijuro approached him.

"It's good to see you again," Seijuro said to the man, who he found out to be 'Sasaki-san' not too long ago. The shop owner looked over Seijuro's shoulder and saw nine others standing behind them. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"I see you brought company," he said.

"They're my cousins. They're visiting for the weekend, so they came along with me today."

"Well great! Feel free to browse around as much as you want," he said to the large group. "Oh, and Seijuro, Kazu's already here, so you can go ahead and meet him near the pianos like usual."

"Thank you very much." Seijuro motioned for his cousins to follow him. "Come on, it's this way."

With that, they all followed him to the back, where all the pianos stood on display, Seijuro stopping when he saw the brown-haired man playing a slow ballad on the sleek black piano that they always used.

"Kazu-san," he said, catching the attention of the man, his fingers hovering above the keys after he heard his name. Kazu looked up from what he was playing and he perked up in realization.

"Ah, Seijuro!" he exclaimed, standing up from the piano stool. "Glad you could make it this week!"

"Likewise," Seijuro responded, smiling slightly when Kazu reached down and began patting his head. "By the way, Kazu-san, I want you to meet my cousins." He gestured behind him to the group of nine standing around. Kazu blinked.

"You mean the people with crazy-looking hair?" Seijuro nodded.

"Yes, the people with the crazy-looking hair would be them. You all should introduce yourselves."

"I'm Kagami Taiga."

"I'm Aomine Daiki."

"My name is Midorima Shintarou."

"I'm Kise Ryouta!"

"Murasakibara Atsushi~"

"My name's Momoi Satsuki."

"Ugh, why do I have to—OW SHUUZO! Okay I'll introduce myself, just stop hitting me! The name's Haizaki Shōgo."

"My name is Nijimura Shuuzo."

Kazu smiled and shook all of their hands.

"It's nice to meet all of you guys!" he said.

"Um, excuse me, but I haven't introduced myself yet."

"Aaah!"

Kazu turned around and nearly jumped out of his skin when he realized a teal-haired boy was standing directly behind him.

"I am Kuroko Tetsuya. It's a pleasure to meet you." Kazu recovered from his near-heart attack fast enough to awkwardly clear his throat and shake his hand.

"Y-Yeah, it's a pleasure…"

Seijuro chuckled at Kazu's response.

"Anyway, shall I pick what we'll play today?"

"Sure! Pick out whatever you want."

As Seijuro ran off to the shelves of piano songbooks, Shintarou went to talk to Kazu.

"If you don't mind me asking, Kazu-san, what do you usually do in here?"

"Nothing special really," Kazu answered, doing a trill on the piano. "One of us picks a songbook and we play through the entire thing."

"And you guys do this _every_ Sunday?" Taiga asked.

"More or less."

"How many books have you played through?" Satsuki instigated. The musician looked into space as he pondered the answer to this.

"Hmm…I think we've almost played through half the shelf."

"Half the self?! How do your fingers not hurt?" Daiki asked. Kazu laughed as he flexed his digits.

"Believe me, after playing nonstop through a whole piano songbook, there's no way they wouldn't hurt!"

Seijuro returned with a book in hand.

"I've selected a songbook. Shall we start?"

"Ah, yes, let's begin."

With that, the two sat down and began to play through the entire songbook, the songs of choice for this week being a book of Beethoven's sonatas. The rest of them sat around the piano and watched the two as their fingers danced across the piano keys so lightly. The two were in such perfect, not even Beethoven himself could have played it better. The hypnotic way that both of them played this divine instrument put everyone in a musical trance, unable to snap themselves out of it. It was only when they had finished the entire book and Seijuro and Kazu took their fingers off the keys that the spell was broken, and everyone came back into reality.

"Woahhh, Seijurocchi that was amazing!" Ryouta exclaimed. "You guys are so good-ssu!" Seijuro grinned.

"I appreciate the compliment," he said. "Thank you Ryo…" He trailed off and looked behind his group of cousins when he realized that someone was staring at them. It was a young woman, and she was peering from behind the wall.

"Hello, did you need help with anything?"

Everyone's heads turned towards the curious woman, wondering who she could possibly be. The woman, overwhelmed by so many people staring at her, decided there was no point in hiding, since it'd make her look stranger. She approached the large group, looking rather ashamed of herself for some reason. If anything, Seijuro assumed it was just for being caught staring, but who knows really?

As she came closer, everyone had their eyes on her, but the one who was staring the most was Kazu. This woman had long hazel-brown hair and crystal clear blue eyes that sparkled like a diamond. She was wearing a blue pastel dress that hugged her figure so nicely and complimented her eyes so perfectly, it was like a match made in heaven. Just from that quick glance up from the piano, Kazu realized one thing. This woman was absolutely beautiful.

"Sorry if I seemed a bit weird," the woman said awkwardly. "I just really liked your performance."

"It's not a problem," Seijuro said smoothly. "We're perfectly fine with people watching. Right, Kazu-san?"

Kazu was still staring at the woman with a dazed expression. Seijuro waved a hand in front of his face.

"Kazu-san, are you alright?"

The man quickly blinked and shook his head, realizing he hadn't taken his eyes off of her.

"Oh! Er—right… We're perfectly f-fine with it." he stammered, immediately turning the other way, his cheeks slightly red. The woman saw his expression and giggled softly to herself.

"Hi," she said to him. Kazu gazed up into her eyes and his lips quirked up into a coy smile.

"Hi," he said back.

Seijuro looked back and forth between the two and raised an eyebrow. He was well aware of the atmosphere they were creating. They hadn't even exchanged more than two words and already the romantic tension in the air was so thick that he could take a pair of scissors and cut through it. For some reason, Seijuro felt like he was in one of those shoujo manga scenarios. Oh the awkwardness of it all was too real.

"So…do you like music?" Kazu asked after ten seconds of silence. Seijuro held back the urge to facepalm. Why would he ask something like that? If she didn't like music then she wouldn't be standing in the middle of a music shop. Simple logic. Either way, if the woman found the question odd even in the slightest, she expertly hid it, smiling instead and nodding her head.

"Yes, I love music, in fact," she answered. "I spend most of my time playing the piano."

"You play the piano? So do I!" The woman chuckled.

"I know," she said. Kazu realized what he just said and went red up to his ears. Seijuro held back a cringe. Of course she knew he played piano. She just watched him play through Beethoven's sonatas for over half an hour for crying out loud. Recover Kazu, recover!

"Soooo…what's your favourite composition?"

"Marriage of Figaro by Mozart. You know Mozart, right?"

"Y-Yeah! I know her—HIM! I know him! Great man..."

"Yeah. I think he's pretty great. So, I sometimes hear the piano when I come here on some Sundays. Has that been you two the whole time?"

"Uh, yeah. Just us two."

"Really? That's amazing."

"Ah…thank you very much. So, have you come to buy something here?"

"No actually," the woman responded. "I came today in the hopes that I might hear you guys play today." Kazu's eyes widened.

"You…you came just to hear us play?"

Kazu was just trying not to smile so much before he scared this woman away. He couldn't believe that she came to the shop in the hopes of hearing him play. He opened his mouth to speak but instantly closed it again, realizing he was probably start manically laughing out of the pure elation he was feeling right now. The woman gazed off to the side slightly.

"Well, I guess since you guys are done now…I should probably get going. Bye."

With a slight wave of her hand, she turned on her heels and began taking the first steps towards the entrance of the store to leave the way she came. Kazu looked like he wanted to say something, but opted to keep his mouth closed, looking disappointed that the woman was leaving so soon. Seijuro looked at him and sighed in amused exasperation.

"Honestly, must I have to do this myself?" he muttered before standing up and walking towards the retreating figure in the pastel dress.

"Excuse me Miss, are you free this evening?" Seijuro asked, catching her attention once again. She turned around.

"Um, yes. I am free this evening. Why do you ask?" Seijuro pointed a finger towards the horrified musician on the piano stool.

"Kazu-san would like to take you somewhere. Is eight o'clock suitable for you?"

"S-Seijuro!" Kazu exclaimed, practically dying of embarrassment. The woman smiled.

"I'd love to," she said. "Should the rendezvous point be the music shop?"

"That sounds perfect."

"Then it's a date."

The woman faced the way back to the entrance once more, turning her head to face the musician.

"So then, I'll see you at eight…Kazu-san."

Kazu, bless him, nearly swooned at the sound of his name. Good God he had never had so many butterflies in his stomach before. But he soon blinked himself out of his daydreaming when he realized something.

"Wait! I never caught your name!" The woman stopped in her tracks before giving him the loveliest smile he had ever seen.

"Miyuki."

With that, she opened the door and was gone, the only reminiscence of her existence being the lingering sound of the ringing from the bell above the entrance. The GoM and Shuuzo watched the whole thing from the sidelines, and _boy_ were they shocked. Kazu looked back at Seijuro, the mortification apparent in his worried green eyes as he grabbed Seijuro by the shoulders and shook him.

"Seijuro, have you _any_ idea what you've just done?!" he cried. Seijuro's expression remained impassive.

"Yes. I've just done you a favour," he answered.

"You saw how I was just now! I couldn't even last five minutes, how do you expect me to last a whole night?!"

"That's just something I'll have to fix then."

"Eh?! How do you plan to do that?!"

"Come to my house when you've gotten ready. We'll prep you for tonight." Kazu was surprised.

"Really? You'd do that?" Seijuro smirked.

"But of course. Anything for a friend."

Much to his delight, Seijuro gave the nervous man his address, telling him to come over at five o'clock sharp. Kazu thanked him and ran out of the shop in a hurry, going home to go and choose an outfit. When the shop door closed, Shuuzo chuckled slightly as he went over and put a hand on Seijuro's shoulder.

"Heh, since when did you become a wingman, Seijuro?" The redhead shrugged.

"In situations like these, it's the only option, Shuuzo-san. In any case, we should get going ourselves... It appears that we need to have a family meeting when we get home."

~O~

"Eh? Romantic advice?"

Saying that Reo and the other three were surprised was an understatement. As the group of them sat around in the living room waiting for the redhead to speak, the four of them expected a lot of things to come out of Seijuro's mouth, but a request for romantic advice was not one of them.

"Yes, please, Reo-nii-san," Seijuro pleaded. "Kazu-san has a date tonight and we need to think of ideas before he goes to meet Miyuki-san."

"I suppose I can get some ideas ready. Chihiro, what do you think?" Chihiro shrugged.

"Personally I'm not an expert with this kind of stuff, but if he needs help then I can offer my limited services…"

"Count me in!" said Kotarou.

"I guess I'm in too," said Eikichi. Seijuro bowed his head.

"Thank you very much. I think it will help his confidence greatly."

"Aww, you're welcome, Sei-chan! It's very thoughtful of you to help him out."

Now that everyone was on the same boat, they waited in the living room for almost forty-five minutes, until finally, they heard that fateful doorbell chime at five o'clock sharp. Seijuro rushed over to the door and opened it up, revealing a well-dressed Kazu. What he was dressed in was a crisp white dress shirt with a V-neck button-up sweater that had three solid colours of white, grey and black. He was also wearing black trousers, black dress shoes, and a black fedora to complete the look. He cleaned up nicely. A wash of relief came over the musician's face when he saw who opened the door.

"Ah, thank goodness," Kazu said. "I almost thought I got the address wrong. Anyway, thanks for offering to help me out."

"Not at all, Kazu-san. Won't you come in?"

Seijuro grabbed the man by the wrist and led him into the living room, gesturing him to sit on one of the couches as the rest of them greeted him.

"So, Kazu," Chihiro began. "Seijuro tells us you have a problem." Kazu gives him a bashful grin.

"Yeah, I guess so," he said. "I'm not good with this kind of thing. I basically humiliated myself when I was talking with Miyuki in the shop today, so I need a bit of advice for what I should do with her tonight. I need you all to tell me what you know about women in general."

Reo thought for a bit.

"Well, if I know anything about women, I'd say that they love a man with fashion sense. So you can probably tick that off the checklist."

Kazu nodded in understanding.

"I see," he said. He turned to the other three brothers. "What about you guys? Can you give me any advice at all?"

"I think I've got some!" Kotarou said excitedly. "Girls really like funny guys. If he can tell a few jokes or funny stories, I'm pretty sure she'd like him no problem!"

"Take her to a nice restaurant. Girls love good food, right?"

"It always has to be about food, doesn't it Eikichi? A nice and quiet place like the park is a good setting."

"Perhaps, Chihiro, perhaps."

Daiki turned to the one resource they had.

"Oi, Satsuki, you're a girl..."

"Really? I couldn't tell, Dai-chan."

"I don't need that attitude SASStsuki. What I meant to say is that out of all of us, you should know what girls like the most. So help us out here." Satsuki grinned smugly as she brushed past Daiki.

"Well, I suppose it can't be helped. I guess I'll have to assist you rookie boys in the art of love."

She crossed her legs and folded her arms.

"Okay, listen up, when you take a girl out on a date, they enjoy surprises."

A hand raised up in the air.

"Yes, you."

"Uhhh, what kind of surprises do you mean?" Kazu asked.

"I'm glad you asked, Kazu-san! It could come in any form, whether it's a present or a really nice place to sit and chat. Girls like it when guys go out of their way to make them happy without the girl telling him to."

"What else are girls attracted to, O wise one?" said Shuuzo.

"Girls like it when you compliment them. Just telling a girl that their outfit is nice or they look pretty will instantly make their day. Try not to overdo it though. Let's have an example. Dai-chan, give a demonstration of a compliment please." Daiki cleared his throat.

"Hey you've got nice tits—OW!"

Satsuki huffed in annoyance as the shoe she flung at him made contact with his face.

"Zero points to Dai-chan! I think I asked the wrong person," she sighed. "Sei-kun, you're a very smooth talker, why don't you give us your own demonstration of a compliment? Pretend I'm Miyuki-san and give me one of your best compliments."

"I'll be happy to oblige."

Seijuro walked up to Satsuki, bowing and holding up her hand in his own while he smiled warmly and stared deep into her eyes.

"There is not a single jewel on this planet that could compare to the way your eyes sparkle so vibrantly, my empress."

GODDAMN, GODDAMN.

"Woahhh, chibi's got mad game!" Eikichi said in awe.

"Sei-chan, I didn't know you were so suave."

"Well, Reo-nii-san did give me a lesson on this, so I just put it to good use."

Shuuzo nudged Daiki and Shōgo on the side.

"Did you two see that? You guys better take notes like your life depends on it."

"Haha, yeah you two. You better study closely."

"You're no better, Taiga-kun."

"What does that mean Tetsuya?!"

"Taiga-kun isn't exactly Mr. Casanova himself."

"Oi!"

"This is kinda useful," Kazu said. "Anything else I should know about?"

"Well," said Satsuki "let's hear again from our boys. Ryo-chan, you deal with fangirls on a daily basis. What is it that they like about you?"

"I suppose this is a slightly different situation-ssu," Ryouta said with a strained laugh. "But if I were to guess, it's because they think I'm good looking and nice."

"Yes," said Satsuki. "It's important that as a man, you treat the girl nicely. Guys think that girls like the bad boy type, but it's just a myth really. We like a nice guy who we can have a good time with."

"Okay, I see. So, if I were to give her a present, what do you think it should be?"

Satsuki hummed in thought.

"Let's ask someone. Atsu-kun, what would you give a girl as a present?" The purple giant crunched on some chips.

"Sweets," he answered. "Everyone loves sweets~."

"Sweets are a good idea, but we don't know what type she prefers, so a safer bet would be something like flowers." Suddenly, Shintarou, who hadn't said anything for the entire time, widened his eyes in realization, like he just had an epiphany.

"Kazu-san, what is your sign?"

Kazu looked back in confusion.

"My…my sign?"

"Yes, your sign. I need you to tell me your zodiac sign, nanodayo."

Kazu didn't know what the green-haired Shooting Guard was up to, but if that's the information he wanted, then he'd be happy to give it.

"I'm a Pisces," Kazu answered. That seemed to be all the confirmation he needed, because he immediately stood up and started heading for the front door.

"I'll be stepping out for a short moment. Tetsuya, you will accompany me. We're going shopping."

"Ah. If you say so."

They left as soon as they had put their shoes on, Shintarou informing them that they would be back soon enough, before closing the door behind them, the two disappearing into the streets.

"What's gotten into him?" Chihiro said as he watched him and Tetsuya leave. Seijuro shrugged.

"Who knows?" he said. "But I trust that Shintarou will give us a very useful contribution. Anyway, let's continue with the lesson. Satsuki, if you please."

"Leave it to me, Sei-kun!"

~O~

By the time Satsuki's lesson had finished, they spent the rest of that time trying to get Kazu prepared. He had to practice what he would say and where they would go. Since the first date is a time to get to know the person and talk, Seijuro suggested this quaint little café downtown. It was never too crowded, it wasn't hard to find, and it would be a great place to have a conversation with Miyuki. Shintarou and Tetsuya returned in the nick of time with a bouquet of red roses. As pleased as Kazu was, he asked why Shintarou needed his zodiac sign in order to buy a bunch of roses, in which Shintarou pushed up his glasses and replied: "It was today's lucky item for Pisces, nanodayo." When they finished everything, they went along with Kazu to the music shop at twenty to eight and arrived there two minutes earlier than the scheduled time. By that time, Kazu, with bouquet in hand, was a nervous wreck.

"Wh-What do I do?" he stammered nervously. "It's almost eight o'clock. I don't know if I can do this." Seijuro clapped him on the back.

"Nonsense, Kazu-san," he said. "For all the confidence you have in your music, the least you could do is spare a little bit of that confidence for a date. I'm sure you'll have no problems whatsoever. See, here she comes."

As everyone except Seijuro and Kazu backed up and gave them space, Kazu took in the sight before him. There was Miyuki, approaching the two with a small smile on her face. She was wearing a violet flowing blouse with black leggings, and black gladiator sandals. There was a glistening pendant around her neck and silver hoop earrings dangling on either side of her pretty head. The straight hair that Kazu saw in the shop this afternoon was now curled and styled, the hazel-coloured tresses falling elegantly past her shoulders. She looked like the epitome of adorableness.

"Kazu-san, you've stopped breathing."

"What?"

Kazu was admiring Miyuki for such a long time that he hadn't even realized that he was holding his breath. This poor man was such a hopeless romantic.

"Hello Kazu-san."

"H-Hello… It's nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you again too."

"You…you look really pretty tonight. These are for you."

Much to her surprise, he handed her the bouquet of roses, making her smile at him, her sweet expression making Kazu's heart beat a mile a minute.

"I love roses! Thank you very much!" she replied happily. Her sights were then set on Seijuro, whom she greeted with a brief pat of the head.

"Good evening, Seijuro-kun." He smiled and politely bowed.

"Good evening, Miyuki-san."

"Are you acting as his bodyguard for tonight?" Seijuro chuckled and shook his head.

"I'm afraid not," he said. "I just came to drop him off. If I were to join, I'd be doing what they call 'Third-Wheeling'. I wouldn't want to come in between you two and spoil the mood."

"Ah, I understand. Well it's very nice of you to drop him off for me."

"Thank you. I believe I need to inform you of your destination, yes?" Miyuki blinked.

"Oh yes, I forgot we hadn't picked one out yet. Where are you taking me, Kazu-san?"

"Oh, I was planning on taking you to this really nice café in the downtown area…"

"Sounds great!"

"Excellent," said Seijuro. "Now, I've given Kazu-san the directions to the café so he should know where he's going. Right, Kazu-san?"

"Er, right…"

"Thanks a lot, Seijuro-kun!"

"Anytime."

Kazu offered his arms to Miyuki with a small smile.

"So, shall we?"

Miyuki nodded as she linked her arm with his.

"We shall."

With that, they departed, leaving Seijuro to wave after them.

"Goodbye, enjoy your evening!" he called to the retreating couple. When they were gone, the rest of his brothers and cousins came out from behind the building they were waiting at.

"So, what now? Do we go home?" Shōgo asked. Seijuro quirked a brow.

"Home? Who said anything about home?" he replied. "Obviously we're going to follow them."

"Ehhh? Follow them?" Ryouta cried. "Why would you want to do that, Seijurocchi?"

"Because I'm concerned for the wellbeing of their evening. One small problem could jeopardize the whole thing. We should watch from a distance, working in the shadows to fix any problems that arrive."

"Allow me to assist with that, Seijuro-kun," Tetsuya offered as he stepped forward. "After all, working in the shadows is my specialty." Seijuro smirked.

"Well, let's begin shall we?"

…

Basically, the game plan was for the fourteen of them to split into two groups to watch what was going on in and outside of the café and prevent any type of problems that may arise. In the café was Tetsuya, Shintarou, Satsuki, Atsushi, Reo, Chihiro and Seijuro; basically anyone who was quiet enough to go incognito. The rest of them were outside, situated at different benches, awaiting the time when the two would leave the café. Kazu and Miyuki were seated at a table next to the window.

"This is a really cute café, don't you think, Kazu-san?"

"Yeah, it's lovely."

The two began to chat, ratcheting up the pace as they went. Meanwhile over on a distant table, Seijuro and Tetsuya sneakily peered out from behind the newspapers they were holding up to shield their faces.

"What do you make of the situation, Seijuro-kun?"

Seijuro narrowed his eyes as he observed the couple (if he could even call them that) across the table. Kazu had just said something which Miyuki laughed at.

"So far so good I should think. Reo-nii-san, what would you say?"

Reo looked up from his fashion magazine at the scene.

"It checks out okay with me, Sei-chan," he said quietly. Chihiro sighed as he held up his own tabloid to conceal his identity.

"If we're going to be here, can we at least order something?" Seijuro pondered for a moment.

"I suppose it would be okay. Please call a waiter over and order for us. I'll have a slice of chocolate cake. Tetsuya?"

"Hmm…if we're ordering, then I'll have a Vanilla Frappuccino."

"Ahhh~ they don't sell pocky in cafés, so I'll take a cream puff."

"An éclair for me, Sei-kun."

"Shintarou? You don't want to order?"

The green-haired teenager looked unamused from his side of the table.

"This is ridiculous, nanodayo," he said. "Why exactly are we stalking these two? Shouldn't we just leave them to their evening?" Seijuro laughed silently as he stared at him in amusement.

"Absolutely not," he said. "We're here to ensure everything goes smoothly between them. You know this, Shintarou. Besides, I only asked if you wanted to order."

He huffed.

"Fine. Black coffee for me."

"Ehhh? Shin-chin doesn't put milk or sugar in his coffee? Won't it be bitter?"

"I like it bitter, nodayo."

"Apparently the coffee isn't the only thing that's bitter…"

"I heard that, Tetsuya."

Seijuro felt a vibration on the table and looked down to see his phone flashing with a notification. He unlocked it and went to his inbox. It was a message from Ryouta.

 _How's it going in there, Seijurocchi?_

Seijuro messaged him back.

 _It's going well so far. Nothing has happened yet, so there's no need for us to intervene now._

Thirty seconds later he got a response.

 _I would be careful though, the table on your right has just been occupied with a family of four._

Seijuro discreetly turned to the right and spotted a couple sitting down with their two children, both kids under the age of five. Oh great.

 _Understood. I'll keep an eye on them,_ Seijuro messaged him, before locking his phone and holding his newspaper up again.

 _ **Meanwhile outside…**_

While Group A (yes they named the groups) observed inside the café, Group B, which was Daiki, Ryouta, Taiga, Shōgo, Shuuzo, Kotarou and Eikichi, waited outside.

"Ugh, why am I in a group with _you_ of all people?" Daiki said to Taiga.

"I should be saying the same thing to you, Daiki." Taiga complained.

"Why the hell are we out here?" Shōgo grumbled. "I want out."

"The only thing that'll be out is you when I knock you out," Shuuzo said in irritancy. "Don't get on my nerves tonight, Shōgo."

"When will they come out of the café?" Kotarou asked impatiently.

"I hear ya," said Eikichi. "I'm starving!"

"They'll come out when they come out," said Shuuzo. "You can't expect them to stay there for such a short time, would you? Besides, we've only been out here for ten minutes." Ryouta sighed as he eyed the couple through the window.

"This is gonna take a while-ssu."

 _ **Back in the café…**_

When everyone got their orders and quietly thanked the waiter, a problem arose. The children on the other table that Ryouta was talking about began fighting. Of course it didn't last long though; one successful hair pulling from the youngest child was enough to make the older child scream and cry. The child was crying so loud, the entire café could probably hear it. Kazu and Miyuki stopped talking at the sound of the screams.

"It's pretty loud in here," Miyuki said. Kazu frowned.

"Y-Yeah, I guess it is…"

Seijuro paused in the midst of his cake-eating and put his fork down onto his plate.

"Tetsuya, we have a code red," he said gravely. Tetsuya saluted towards the redhead and put his newspaper down.

"I'm on it, Seijuro-kun."

Tetsuya slid off his seat and crept over to the table with ease. He went to the crying child who was standing next to his mother and bent down in front of him. He covered his eyes with his hands, much to the child's confusion, and then quickly uncovered them again.

"Peek-a-boo!" he said. The child stopped his crying and stared at Tetsuya. Then, slowly, he began to smile. Tetsuya covered his eyes and uncovered them again.

"Peek-a-boo!"

The child started laughing and clapping his hands, completely halting his loud tantrum in favour of focusing on the teal-haired boy who had come to play with him. After a few more rounds of peek-a-boo, the child's spirits were completely lifted and Tetsuya's work was done. Standing up, he waved to the small boy and left, the parents finally looking down at their child and wondering what on earth made him so happy all of a sudden.

"Nicely done, Tetsuya," Seijuro said to him.

"It was my pleasure," Tetsuya replied, reclaiming his seat. "I think I have a knack for working with children. I should make it a profession."

Hearing that the crying had ceased, Kazu and Miyuki continued on with their conversation, talking about their favourite genre of music. Seijuro nodded in approval. Good, very good indeed.

~O~

Group A was very good at fixing potential disasters in the café. They mainly relied on Tetsuya's lack of presence to fix problems, since it was the most convenient and risk-free thing to do. When Shintarou saw that the couple's waiter's shoes were untied, Tetsuya crawled under the table and tied them so he wouldn't trip and spill their orders all over the floor. He also had to go back to the table with two children to settle a few more petty squabbles, but other than that, their café experience went quite smoothly. When the two left the café to take a walk around downtown, it was now up to Group B to keep things in order.

 _The targets have left the establishment. I'm leaving this to your group, Shuuzo-san. Notify me if there's a code red._

 _Targets? Code red? What is this, a James Bond movie? You're making me feel like a spy, Seijuro._

 _Haha, did you want to?_

 _Never mind. I'll text you if something pops up._

 _Affirmative. Over and out._

 _Over and out?_

 _Just say it._

 _UGH. FINE. OVER AND OUT._

 _Thank you. You may go about your business now._

Shuuzo sighed as he locked his phone. Seijuro was having _way_ too much fun with these 'spying' shenanigans. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Kazu and Miyuki just exited the café and began heading down the street. The other seven of them were watching from various conveniently placed trees.

"See anything?" Shuuzo whispered.

"Not yet-ssu," Ryouta answered. "It seems pretty normal to me."

"If everything's all peaches and cream then can we leave?" Shōgo asked. "I'm sick of waiting around."

"Keep your mouth shut, Shōgo!" Daiki hissed.

"Yeah," said Taiga. "If our cover is blown, Seijuro's gonna kill us!"

"Sei can be pretty scary when he's mad, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I'm not ready for chibi to put me in an early grave."

Kazu and Miyuki were taking a leisurely stroll down the street talking more about various topics, birthdays, stories, hobbies, et cetera. Kazu looked much calmer than he did before. He was starting to lose his inhibitions and that made it easier to talk to Miyuki. He looked like he was really enjoying himself. Group B was always close by and watched their every move, stopping when they stopped, and going when they go. After five minutes, the two stumbled across a street performer. It was a man with a guitar playing a love song, and many people had come to watch. The two stopped in their tracks and began listening in as well.

"This song is beautiful."

Kazu nodded.

"Yeah, it sure is."

The man's voice was absolutely divine, serenading the whole crowd with his lovely singing. The song melted away any tension in the air and replaced it with feelings of peace and serenity, making the people listening feel at ease with themselves. As Miyuki enjoyed herself with listening, Kazu glanced at her for a second, and then looked away as an idea popped into his head. It was a pretty cliché idea, and he's seen it in action in countless movies, but he wasn't so sure it'd work in real life. But hey, he could only try, couldn't he? After all, the worst she could say to him was no. So he held out his hand to Miyuki and she looked down at it in confusion before gazing up at Kazu. Kazu was trying to fight off the red that was spreading all over his cheeks but miserably failing. But he was determined, and he was going to get his words out.

"Miyuki…do you want to dance with me?" Miyuki raised her eyebrows in surprise, which made Kazu's anxiety go straight through the roof.

"I-I mean, if you don't want to do it that's fine!" he stammered quickly. "I probably shouldn't have suggested. It's a dumb idea, isn't it?" His nervous ramble was silenced by the dainty little hand placed in his.

"I don't think it's a dumb idea," Miyuki said. "And I'd love to dance with you."

Kazu lit up with joy as he playfully bowed to her and smiled, taking her other hand and pulling her close and beginning to step in tune to the song in the middle of the walkway. As they danced, people watching the street performer were now watching them, as they began to slow dance. Miyuki looked slightly embarrassed.

"I think we're grabbing people's attention," she said with a shy smile. Kazu looked towards the gathering crowd and shrugged it off.

"It's okay, let them stare," he said. "Let's just keep dancing."

And so they did, going back and forth, swaying side to side, spinning around and doing it again. By this time, Group A had already left the café, and arrived just in time to see the romantic scene unfolding before them.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" said Seijuro, giving a knowing smirk to Shuuzo.

"It seems Kazu is quite the fancy dancer, Seijuro," Shuuzo remarked as they continued to watch from an out of sight location.

"They look so cute together!" Satsuki squealed as she watched them.

"This is definitely a shoujo manga scene for sure," Chihiro deadpanned.

"Isn't that a good sign though?" said Reo as he peered out from behind him. "That means this will probably end well!"

The two continued to dance and soon enough, the entire crowd was watching them. Some of them were even taking photos and videos on their phones. Miyuki laughed a little.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" she said. Kazu nodded.

"I'm perfectly fine with it," he replied.

They went on with the slow dancing until the song finally ended. When the song ended and they stopped dancing, everyone in the crowd clapped and cheered for the two, making the both of them blush at the attention they were getting. Nevertheless, they exchanged looks and bowed to the large group of people, getting another round of applause. Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted something that made the blush on their faces grow darker.

"You two should kiss!"

They looked at each other in surprise. The man's comment soon was backed up by more voices in the crowd.

"Yeah, kiss!"

"Kiss her!"

"Kiss each other!"

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

The whole crowd was shouting the word 'kiss' in unison, putting the two in the spotlight at the centre. Kazu looked awkward about it as he stared into her eyes.

"Do you…uh…want to?" he asked. She looked a bit unsure.

"I don't know…do you want to?"

The crowd was still chanting in unison and didn't show any signs of letting up soon, so it became a situation where two people, a man and a woman, were awkwardly standing in the middle of a circle of people, who are all telling them to kiss. Reo clenched his fist.

"He's not moving. What do we do? This is definitely a code red situation." Seijuro stood up.

"Oh it's a code red alright. The red is referring to me, meaning I'll be offering my assistance this time."

As Kazu and Miyuki continued to stare at each other, Seijuro came out from where he was hiding and took a deep, deep breath…

"FOR CRYING OUT LOUD JUST _KISS ALREADY!_ "

Kazu and Miyuki looked up from where they were and saw Seijuro on the other side of the street, folding his arms in disapproval at the two. Miyuki giggled at the irritated redhead and Kazu sputtered in surprise.

"S-Seijuro?! What are you doing here?!" Seijuro exhaled as he shook his head.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm saving your evening. Now please just kiss her, for God's sake. We're all waiting for it to happen."

Kazu looked back at Miyuki. She was gazing up at him expectantly, giving him a cute shy smile that was practically beckoning him closer. He felt himself moving closer and closer, until his eyes closed completely and their lips met, the crowd hollering in delight at their first kiss. The other thirteen came out of hiding to go over and cheer with the crowd, Reo, Satsuki, and Ryouta squealing like girls at a sleepover and the rest of them looking on in silent approval. Seijuro and Tetsuya looked at the scene in front of them and did a fist-bump. Mission accomplished.

~O~

After their date, Kazu and Miyuki went back to the music shop hand in hand. The others followed as well, wanting to say one last goodbye for the night.

"So, I guess we can call your night a success then," said Seijuro, beaming in triumph. Kazu laughed and ruffled his hair.

"I guess you can," he said. "I'd like to thank you for your sudden outburst. It helped relieve the tension."

"All in a day's work, Kazu-san."

Miyuki smiled.

"I'd like to thank you as well, Seijuro-kun, for helping to plan the best night out I could ask for!"

She bent down and pecked his cheek, causing Seijuro's eyes to widen and a shade of pink to dust his cheeks.

"No problem," he said, glancing off to the side. "I suppose you won't be needing my help with anything else tonight then?" Kazu shook his head.

"I think we'll be able to manage. Thanks again, Seijuro! And I'll see you next Sunday!"

"I look forward to it. Goodbye!"

The two walked in the opposite direction and vanished from sight, leaving the fourteen of them in the middle of the sidewalk. Seijuro turned around to his family members.

"We should be taking our leave as well, yes?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"Finally!"

"I'm so hungry, I want food."

"Let's order a pizza or something."

"Sweet, let's order when we get back."

And so the group departed from the downtown area, happy of their success in getting Kazu a relationship. Generation of Miracles? More like Generation of Wingmen.

* * *

 **Thank you so much to everyone who was waiting for me to upload. I _promise_ I won't be away for as long next time. But if I am, please bear with me since I don't willingly choose to leave my fanfics for more than a week. Anyway, I'll try starting the next chapter sometime this week, but until then, you know what to do...**

 **Read and review please!**


	23. Thy kingdom come

**TODAY. IS. MY. MUTHA. FUCKIN. BIRTHDAY.**

 **Hello to all of you people! It is almost five a.m. on the 29th of March over here in London, UK and let me tell you I am ready to PAR-TAAAAAY.**

 **I am finally 17 so yeah pretty excited, good vibes, good vibes. Well, tbh I can't vote yet and I'm not even legal to drink in this country, but on the bright side I am the dancing queen for a whole year (You know that song: Dancing queeeeeen, young and sweet only seventeeeeeen!)**

 **Anyway, I thought that because I'm getting presents today, my present to you all would be a chapter update...and something else.**

 **THIS IS THE PART THAT IS IMPORTANT TO READ IF YOU SKIM THROUGH THESE BLURBS.**

 **Immediately after I update this fanfic, I will be posting a new one. Yes, it is a KNB fanfic...but not just ANY KNB fanfic. It's a crossover. You heard right. A crossover. A KNB and ATLA crossover (For all who don't know what ATLA is I'm sure at some point you must have heard of the show Avatar the Last Airbender but I doubt I needed to explain anyway). Moving on, it's a fanfic idea I was working on with my awesome friend (who is also my classmate outside this website) bindiindi. We talked about this AU originally as a joke but then I actually got ideas and holy shit I wrote Chapter one from scratch on Saturday and it's gonna be great. And hahaha it's about Akashi again sorry but you may have already noticed but he's my fav character aside from Kuroko so...**

 **Anyway, I hope you check it out if you have time! It's called 'Darkness in the Destiny'.**

 **And to babyj1275, you'll be happy to know there is plenty of Akakuro teamwork in this chapter so I hope it makes you happy! And don't worry, that other thing you mentioned will be saved for later chapter ideas...hehehehe.**

 **Now, I think that everything is out of the way so...**

 **ENJOY THE CHAPTER!**

* * *

Thy Kingdom come

Monday was here at last. Enjoying the public holiday on this particular day, the GoM went outside in the sun with their elder family members and they all played a bit of streetball. Obviously, they caused a lot of ruckus. What, with the rainbow coloured hair and the exceptional basketball skills, it was more difficult not to. They were at the courts for most of the morning, and when they came back and changed clothes, the GoM were hanging out in the guest room again, chattering amongst themselves to kill time. It was only until Daiki noticed that Tetsuya was the only one not talking. Turning around to see why he was so quiet, Daiki saw that he was scribbling on a piece of paper.

"Oi, Tetsu, what are you doing?"

Tetsuya looked up for a moment before going back to what he was doing.

"Ah, I was just doodling something," he answered.

"What're you doodling?" Daiki asked, crawling from the place he was sitting to lean over Tetsuya's paper. Tetsuya flipped the paper around and showed him a picture. It was a knight in armour, sliver shining armour. The knight was standing with a sword in hand, looking like he was about to swing at whoever was looking at the page. The front of the knight's helmet was pulled up, revealing his face. He was pale, with blue hair and blue eyes. He looked a lot like…

"Tetsuya, did you draw yourself as a knight?"

Seijuro had appeared in front of Tetsuya as well, curiously gazing down at the drawing on his paper. Tetsuya nodded.

"Yes," he said. "I got bored, so I started drawing…and then it came to this."

"Ohhh! Tetsuyacchi made a really cool drawing-ssu!"

"Tetsu-chin is a knight~."

"Tetsu-kun, your drawing is so cuuute!"

"Ah? Who cares about a stupid drawing?"

"Shōgo, I see you're as bitter as always, nanodayo."

"You're in no position to be saying that, Shintarou."

"OI."

"Anyway," said Daiki "I think your knight could use some company. I was thinking something along the lines of a badass sidekick if you see what I'm sayin'. For example, me."

"Ugh, anyone _except_ you would be a good choice," Taiga said with particular distaste. "And I think I would be a better sidekick."

"No, I would."

"I would."

"Would not."

"Would so."

"Would _not_."

"Would _so_."

"Tetsu…"

"Tetsuya…"

"Who would you choose?" they asked in unison. Tetsuya looked back and forth between the both of them and went back to his pencil, scribbling quickly on his piece of paper once more. When he was done, he flipped it around to show the two, revealing a small dog next to the knight.

"I choose Nigou," Tetsuya replied flatly.

"…"

"…"

"EH?!"

Ryouta burst out laughing at the shocked expressions on both of their faces.

"Woah hahahahaha! This is great-ssu! You two lost the position of sidekick to a dog!"

"What the hell Tetsu that's so unfair!"

"Yeah! You can't just make a dog your sidekick! You should choose a human!" Tetsuya shrugged.

"If you insist," he said. "In that case, I choose Seijuro-kun."

"Oi! Tetsu!"

"Heh. I feel honoured by your invitation to accompany you on your journey, Tetsuya," Seijuro said as he picked up his own pencil. "Let's not waste anytime then. Allow me to draw myself in."

With that, Seijuro took the piece of paper from Tetsuya and began to draw. When he was done, he set it back down for all to see. Everyone stared at the drawing. There was Seijuro, next to Tetsuya, also in knight's armour; and he was…on a white horse?

"The fuck are you doing on a horse?" Shōgo grunted as he snatched the paper up from the ground.

"It was never against the rules," Seijuro said, taking the paper back from the ash-haired boy. "And this way, it makes it easier for travel."

"Easier for travel my ass! You just wanted to make yourself look cool on some stupid horse."

"Don't insult Yukimaru, he never did anything to you."

"Who the hell is Yukimaru?"

"My noble steed, of course."

The others sweat-dropped. He was having too much fun with this already.

"Putting names aside," said Shintarou "if we're going to build on this, we might as well make it into a storyline, nanodayo."

"That's true," said Tetsuya. "We could make a comic out of this. It could be fun."

"Hmm, you're right, Tetsuya. Let's begin then."

…

 _Long ago, in the land of Basketballtopia…_

—

"Wait, Basketballtopia? Who is naming this, nanodayo?"

Everyone looked at Taiga, who had a guilty expression on his face.

"What?!" he shouted. "Can't _I_ have a little fun with this?"

"It's a dumb name."

"Tai-chin that's laaaaaame."

"Well we have no other suggestions, so let him name the place," said Seijuro. "Let's just continue the narration."

—

 _Long ago, in the land of Basketballtopia, there lived two knights: Knight Tetsuya, and Knight Seijuro. They lived in peace within the lands with their loyal dog Nigou and their trusty white steed Yukimaru, and they trained day and knight (hahaha you see what I did there *ignores booing*) to perfect their swordsmanship. They were having a practice bout one day when they heard someone call their names._

" _Knight Tetsuyacchi, Knight Seijurocchi, please come help!"_

 _They turned their head to find that the royal jester was running towards them—_

—

"Wait a second, why am I the jester?!"

Tetsuya sighed as he put his coloured pencil down.

"Because Ryouta-kun was the first person that came to mind when I thought of a jester."

"I don't know whether to be happy that you thought of me, or insulted that this is what you associated me with…"

—

 _Ahem, where was I…oh yes. The jester was running towards the two in a panic._

" _Please come help, there's been a terrible tragedy-ssu!" he cried. Seijuro and Tetsuya put their swords down._

" _What happened?" Knight Seijuro asked._

" _Well…uh…"_

—

"Quick! We need an objective!"

Satsuki piped up.

"I know!" she said. "We could do something like this! Pass me some paper!"

—

" _Princess Satsukicchi has been kidnapped and she's been taken captive-ssu!"_

" _By who?"_

" _By the notorious bandit Shōgo-kun!"_

—

"Oi, why am I the bad guy?!" Shōgo growled. Ryouta laughed nervously.

"Ahaha, sorry, I panicked…"

"No, wait. This is good," said Tetsuya. "Let's stick to this."

—

" _Shōgo-kun has kidnapped the princess?" Tetsuya questioned. "Why would he want the princess?"_

" _See for yourself!" the jester cried, revealing a parchment he was holding. "Shōgo-kun left this note in Princess_ _Satsukicchi's room after he took her."_

 _Seijuro took the parchment from the jester and read it out._

" _To the King and Queen of Basketballtopia, I have kidnapped your daughter and I am keeping her in the forbidden tower. I'm not releasing her unless you pay the ransom money I ask for. The price is one thousand gold pieces. You have forty-eight hours. Signed, the bandit, Shōgo."_

" _Half of the words in this message are spelled wrong," Tetsuya said as he looked down at the poorly written note._

" _And the other half is nearly illegible," Seijuro said, squinting at the scrawl on the parchment. "Never mind that, we must go and rescue the princess."_

" _But what about the thousand gold pieces?" said Ryouta._

" _That won't be necessary. We'll go and retrieve the princess without the ransom money."_

" _But what if he attacks you for not having the money-ssu?"_

" _I don't think we'll have a problem with that," said Tetsuya. He flexed his arms. "Do you see these guns?"_

 _Ryouta sweat-dropped. Tetsuya had guns, but they sure as hell didn't have any ammo._

" _R-Right, of course…" he said, wondering if he had actually asked the right people for this job. "But in order to rescue Princess Satsuki, you must get directions to the forbidden tower. Come with me to the palace-ssu. The King and Queen will give you a map."_

 _The two nodded and followed the jester, motioning for Nigou and Yukimaru to stay put while they were out, then, they set out._

 _Once they arrived at the palace, they were taken straight to the King and Queen, who were in the throne room, discussing the problem at hand. Ryouta came forward and bowed._

" _King Atsushicchi and Queen Shintaroucchi, I've brought the knights."_

—

"STOP RIGHT THERE NANODAYO."

Everyone stared at Shintarou.

"What? What's the problem?" asked Daiki.

"Why am I the queen, nanodayo? This is injustice in the highest form."

"Just go with it, it's the story plot," said Taiga.

"Ehe…Shin-chin is a woman~"

"BE QUIET ATSUSHI."

"I think it kind of suits you, Shintarou-kun," Tetsuya commented. "Since you're always so prim and proper…"

"Heh. Like the Queen of England," Seijuro remarked with a short laugh, much to Shintarou's annoyance.

"Whatever, I no longer care how you tell the story," Shintarou grumbled before adjusting his glasses.

"Whatever sweetens your tea, your majesty."

"OI."

—

 _The royal couple stared at the knights, silently assessing their potential. The two knights immediately went down on their knees._

" _It is an honour to service the King and Queen of our land," said Seijuro._

" _Likewise," said Tetsuya. "It is of utmost pleasure that we carry out this important task."_

" _We would expect nothing less, nanodayo," said the queen. "Now, we have prepared a map for you both to guide you to the forbidden tower. Atsushi, where is the map?"_

" _It should be around here somewhere~" he drawled as he felt around his pockets, maiubo crumbs flying out of his mouth as he spoke. Shintarou grimaced._

" _Atsushi, if you're going to eat then don't make a mess on the floor."_

" _Ehhh?"_

 _After a minute or so of rummaging around, he brought out the map and placed it on a table in front of him. Seijuro and Tetsuya came forward and eyed the map from the other side of the table looking at all the vast places it showed._

" _This is where we are now," said Queen Shintarou, pointing to the illustration of their city. "And this is where you'll be heading, nodayo." The two knights followed Shintarou's finger as it trailed along a path, where it reached an ominously drawn tower._

" _This is the forbidden tower, nanodayo. In order to get there, you need to take this path out of Basketballtopia and go through the woods."_

 _Tetsuya took a look at the winding path the queen was referring to. It looked simple enough. Just follow the path to the tower. How hard could it be?_

—

"But if I know anything about Fairytale stories, you're going to make it harder than that, aren't you?" said Tetsuya.

"Well duh," said Taiga in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. "Otherwise it wouldn't be much of a challenge. Pass me the coloured pencils. I'm gonna add something to the map."

—

" _Your majesty, what is that?" Seijuro asked, pointing to the conveniently added things on the map._

" _Ish sha oshtackled in sha way," is what King Atsushi muffled through his mouthful of snacks, but no one understood a word he said. The queen pinched the bridge of her nose._

" _I think what my oaf of a husband is trying to say is that those are the obstacles in the way," Shintarou sighed in annoyance, using his jewel encrusted fan to slap Atsushi's hand away from the bag of chips he was reaching for._

" _Obstacles?"_

" _Yes, obstacles, nanodayo." Shintarou pointed to a river that obstructed the path._

" _First, you must cross the bridge that resides here. It is guarded by a troll here, and you have to answer one of his riddles to pass."_

" _That sounds doable."_

" _Painfully cliché, but doable."_

" _So let's say that we don't answer one of the riddles," said Tetsuya. "What will happen then?"_

" _You get thrown into the river, nanodayo."_

" _Well, that doesn't sound too bad in all honesty," Seijuro quipped. Queen Shintarou huffed._

" _Suit yourself," he said. "But I personally would not want to get thrown into a crocodile infested river, nanodayo."_

 _The two knights stiffened and exchanged looks._

" _On second thought, we might want to get our riddle-solving skills ready, Seijuro-kun."_

" _I agree, Tetsuya. It would be rather unfortunate for us to end up as crocodile food."_

" _Next, you have to enter the swamp of doom and despair."_

" _Is it necessary for everything to be named after doom and despair?" said Seijuro._

" _Well, if you noticed, not everything is all sunshine and rainbows," said Shintarou. "Either way, you need to go through the swamp to rescue our daughter, Princess Satsuki, regardless of what the name is. Someone will be waiting there for you. Use them to guide you through, nanodayo."_

" _Who is waiting for us?" Tetsuya inquired. The queen adjusted their glasses._

" _When you reach the swamp, they will reveal themselves to you."_

" _Again with the cliché plotline," Seijuro muttered under his breath. "Anyway, this will not pose a problem for us. Tetsuya and I are perfectly capable of retrieving your daughter from Shōgo_."

" _That's fine then, nanodayo." Queen Shintarou turned to Ryouta, who had kept silent this whole time._

" _Ryouta, you will accompany them on their journey, nanodayo. See that they make it back alive." Ryouta saluted._

" _As you wish-ssu!" he said dutifully._

" _Oh. Before you go~" Atsushi said, beckoning the knights towards him. "We have some things to give you."_

 _The knights stood in front of the king and queen as Shintarou went to go and get something from a chest they keep next to their thrones. When he returned, he was holding a medium sized box in his hands, which he gave to Tetsuya._

" _Here, I request that you take this on your journey," he said. "I am sure that the two items within this box will ensure great success."_

 _Tetsuya cocked is head to the side in confusion before looking down at the box. Slowly lifting the lid open, both Tetsuya and Seijuro's eyes widened in surprise as they revealed…_

—

"An encyclopaedia and a bottle of Windex? Shintarou what is the meaning of this?"

Shintarou frowned as he decided to educate the extremely confused redhead about his questionable drawing.

"They are the lucky items for Sagittarius and Aquarius, nanodayo. Does nobody watch Oha Asa?"

"Literally nobody here watches it except for you," Shōgo grumbled. Shintarou sighed.

"Whatever, nanodayo. Let us just continue with the story."

—

 _Tetsuya and Seijuro both raised an eyebrow at the so-called 'lucky items' as they took them out from the box. The encyclopaedia was Tetsuya's lucky item and the bottle of Windex was Seijuro's. Seijuro pouted slightly as he held the spray-bottle._

" _Is there something wrong, Seijuro-kun?"_

" _Why is it you get an encyclopaedia and I'm stuck with cleaning fluid? At the very least you can learn something interesting from your lucky item, but what on earth am I meant to do with Windex?"_

" _Perhaps you could get on Shōgo's good side by cleaning his table for him and he'll free the princess."_

" _Very funny, Tetsuya," said Seijuro, rolling his eyes in amusement. "Well, for what it's worth, I hope it brings me the luck it's meant to bring me."_

" _I have something for you as well~" Atsushi said. He went back to rummaging in his pockets again and pulled out a small box. He handed it to Seijuro. Seijuro looked down at the thing and saw that it was just a box of pocky._

" _You're giving us snacks, your highness?"_

" _Yes," Atsushi said with unusual wisdom. "It has the key to your problems."_

 _Seijuro looked down at the box again and shrugged. Oh well. At least they won't go hungry during the journey. The pocky would probably prove to be more useful than the Windex anyway._

" _Now, that is all, nanodayo." Shintarou gestured them to the exit. "You must be on your way. And hurry. Shōgo is only giving you forty-eight hours, nanodayo."_

" _Bye Tetsu-chiiiin. Bye Sei-chiiiin. Ganbatte~"_

" _Thank you," said Tetsuya._

" _And don't worry, your daughter will be in safe hands," said Seijuro._

 _Ryouta ran after the two._

" _Wait for me-ssu!"_

~O~

"It's been over an hour, what are they all doing upstairs?"

The other five were downstairs in the kitchen having a drink before the TV finished the commercial break. Like Eikichi said, it had been just over an hour, and he scratched his head as he wondered what the rainbow gang might be up to.

"God knows," Shuuzo muttered before taking a sip of his soda. Kotarou hummed in thought.

"Maybe they're sleeping?" he suggested. Reo nearly spit out his own drink at that.

"Sleeping?!" he gasped. "Then I'm missing perfectly good picture-taking opportunities!"

He was just about to go upstairs when Chihiro grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

"Slow down," he said. "If they're sleeping then you shouldn't bother them. Just leave them be for a bit longer."

"Aww…"

~O~

 _As soon as they left the palace, the two brave knights and the jester made their way back to their home in the forest where they began to gather equipment they might need for their quest._

" _Here are the ropes you asked for, Seijuro-kun."_

" _Ah, thank you Tetsuya. Just put it in my bag over there."_

" _Okay."_

 _Ryouta watched as the two prepared for the journey, getting their weapons ready and packing in the necessities._

" _You guys sure bring a lot of stuff-ssu," Ryouta said in awe, watching from the log he was sitting on. Tetsuya put their newly acquired lucky items into the storage pouch on the side of Yukimaru's saddle._

" _A good knight must always come prepared for the journey ahead."_

 _Seijuro nodded in approval as he passed by his fellow knight._

" _Well said, Tetsuya," he said, sounding eerily similar to a proud father. "Now, all we need is the grappling hook and we're set… Where has it gone?"_

" _Nigou, can you please go and find it?"_

 _The black and white dog barked before scampering off to the log where Ryouta was sitting. He climbed over and ended up behind it, where he located the item, fiddling it for some time before he managed to get a firm grip on it with his mouth. He then ran back to his owner, tail wagging at his accomplishment. Tetsuya petted him gently as the little dog released the grappling hook from his hold._

" _Good boy, Nigou. Now that we have everything, we should get going."_

" _Excellent, let's get to it," said Seijuro. "Ryouta, aren't you coming? Unless you're more content just sitting there of course."_

" _No, wait, I'm coming!" he cried, starting up from the log. By the time he stood up, Seijuro was already on Yukimaru and he was helping Tetsuya on as well._

" _Ryouta-kun, Nigou prefers to walk instead of having me carry him, would you mind keeping him company on the ground?"_

" _Leave it to me-ssu!" he said, and with that, they were off, on their way to go and rescue Princess Satsuki._

 _..._

 _It hadn't been long before they had embarked on their journey, but the three heroes were now making progress. They had already left Basketballtopia, and now they were following the map, the first destination being the troll-guarded bridge._

" _What do you think the troll is going to be like, Seijuro-kun?" Tetsuya asked as took notice of the forest that now surrounded them. Seijuro shrugged._

" _Who knows?" he replied. "But I'm sure he's nothing we can't handle. As long as we solve a riddle, we have nothing to worry about."_

" _I should hope so."_

" _I could help with solving riddles!" Ryouta said excitedly from below them. Tetsuya narrowed his eyes before going back to facing forward._

" _If that were to happen then I'm certain we'll become dinner for the crocodiles."_

" _So mean!"_

 _Seijuro sighed as they pushed forward. He hoped that at the very least Ryouta would actually help them. To be honest he wasn't exactly sure. Even the king and queen seemed a bit crooked in the crown. No matter. If worst comes to worst and they do get thrown in the river, maybe they could use Ryouta as an offering to the crocodiles while he and Tetsuya make their escape. He was snapped out of his thoughts when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to find baby blue eyes staring into his fiery red._

" _Tetsuya?"_

" _Seijuro-kun, I think we've arrived at the bridge."_

 _There was no mistaking the sound of flowing water from in front of them. So they broke through the thick trees and brush to find themselves face-to-face with the river they saw in the map. Seijuro and Tetsuya dismounted from Yukimaru and Seijuro allowed his horse a minute's rest as he looked around._

" _Hmm…"_

 _Tetsuya noticed Seijuro's uncertainty._

" _Is there something wrong?"_

" _The king and queen said there was a troll guarding this bridge, and, frankly, I don't see one."_

" _You're right," said Tetsuya, realizing that the entrance to the bridge was left wide open for practically anyone to cross. "Where is this supposed troll?"_

 _Suddenly, they heard a loud noise. At the sound, Seijuro immediately drew his sword._

" _What was that?" Ryouta said, already beginning to panic._

" _Shhh!" Seijuro hissed, putting a finger up to his lips. "Stay quiet and make as little movements as possible. Tetsuya, and take out your sword and watch my back."_

" _Of course, Seijuro-kun."_

 _As Ryouta stood in place, Seijuro moved forward cautiously, his piercing red stare going from left to right. Tetsuya was doing the same, surveying the area, ready to strike anything that came towards them. Nigou ran back towards Yukimaru, where he hid behind the horse's leg as he waited for his master to return._

 _As they approached the bridge, the noise changed, and it kept getting louder and louder the more it went on for. As Seijuro listened closely, it was clear that the sound was footsteps. Big heavy footsteps. They were coming from under the bridge it seemed. As the footsteps got closer, Seijuro and Tetsuya saw the silhouette of something. They didn't know what, but it was huge. Tetsuya came out from behind Seijuro and both of them took a fighting stance, only for them to be caught off-guard by a large yawn._

" _Alright, alright, calm down. Put the swords down already, I ain't fighting anyone today."_

 _The two knights lowered their weapons as the silhouette became clearer. Revealed by the sunlight peeking through the trees was a troll. It was the troll. Considerably taller than Seijuro and Tetsuya, yet strangely only a bit taller than Ryouta, the blue troll came from under the bridge and rubbed his eyes. It was now clear that the noise Seijuro originally heard was probably snoring._

" _Oh. There are travellers," said the troll. "Better get to introductions then." He cleared his throat._

" _What's up, my name's Daiki and I'm the troll who guards this bridge."_

—

"HOLD THE FUCK UP."

Taiga was trying so hard to control his laughter.

"Wh-What's the issue?" he stammered, trying to prevent a sudden burst of giggles from coming out of his mouth.

"Why the hell am I a troll?!" Daiki complained.

"What's wrong with being a troll, Daiki-kun?" Tetsuya asked as he put the blue coloured pencil down.

"Everything!" Daiki cried. "Trolls are smelly, lazy, and ugly!"

"Ah, so they're exactly like you."

"OI!"

"Moving swiftly on…"

—

" _So you're the troll that guards this bridge?" asked Seijuro. "We need to get across."_

" _You gotta answer a riddle to get across," the troll said, choosing this time to inappropriately start picking his ears. "Slow your roll, tiny."_

 _Seijuro began to draw his sword once again, eyebrow twitching in irritation at the trolls unnecessary remark. Tetsuya put his hand on Seijuro's and began to slowly push the sword back in its encasing, closing his eyes and shaking his head._

" _It's not worth it, Seijuro-kun."_

" _He called me tiny."_

" _Just let it go."_

" _I'll let it go when I've dismembered this troll for disrespecting my height."_

" _Give me the sword, Seijuro-kun."_

" _No."_

" _Just give it to me."_

"… _Fine."_

 _He surrendered his sword to Tetsuya for the time being while he went over to the troll._

" _Alright, what is the riddle we have to answer?" Daiki cleared his throat._

" _Okay. This is the riddle: Why was Cinderella so bad at basketball?"_

 _Seijuro, Tetsuya and Ryouta all looked at each other as the riddle sunk in._

" _What kind of a riddle is that-ssu?" said Ryouta._

" _I don't know," said Tetsuya. "But it can't be that hard to solve, can it?"_

" _Let's think for a minute," said Seijuro. "What reasons could you have to be bad at basketball?"_

" _I dunno," said Ryouta. "Maybe she kept getting fouls?"_

" _Or she doesn't know how to shoot well," Tetsuya suggested._

" _Hmm. I don't think that would do," said Seijuro. "And not to mention, we do only have one shot at this. If we mess up even once, we get thrown in the crocodile river."_

" _Well what reason could it be?!" said Ryouta. In the midst of his panicking, something fell on his head and Ryouta cried out in pain at the sudden impact._

" _OW! What was that-ssu?!" he cried. Looking down at the ground, he saw a singular apple._

" _This must be what hit me," he muttered. Tetsuya looked up to find out they were under an apple tree._

" _Ah. I didn't know there was fruit growing here."_

 _Suddenly Seijuro's eyes went wide in realization. Fruit… That was it!_

" _I know the answer," he announced, catching the attention of the other two. Without any further explanation, he marched straight up to the troll._

" _I figured out the answer to your riddle," Seijuro said triumphantly. Daiki raised his eyebrows._

" _Ah?" he grunted. "Then tell me the answer. The sooner you do that, the sooner I can go back to sleep."_

" _Heh." Seijuro smirked confidently. "The reason why Cinderella was so bad at basketball, is because her coach was a pumpkin."_

" _Hmm? Not bad, you answered the riddle," said Daiki, looking slightly impressed. "Alright, a deal's a deal, so you all can pass."_

" _Excellent. Come, Tetsuya, Ryouta, we're leaving."_

" _Nice one, Seijurocchi!"_

" _As expected of Seijuro-kun."_

" _But of course."_

 _With the riddle answered and the troll going back under the bridge to take yet another nap, the three of them took Yukimaru and Nigou and pressed on, crossing the bridge over the river of crocodiles over to the other side._

~O~

"They really are being awfully quiet up there, don't you think?"

Shuuzo was staring up at the ceiling, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"Surely they can't be sleeping for that long, could they?"

"I dunno, they were pretty beat up after streetball," said Chihiro, not even bothering to glance up from his light novel. "Even if they aren't resting, whatever they're doing is keeping the house quiet, and as long as the house is quiet, I'm happy." Shuuzo shrugged.

"If you say so…"

~O~

 _The three of them travelled for another mile or so before finally reaching the next area. The swamp of doom and despair._

" _Well, here we are," said Seijuro. "The swamp of doom and despair."_

" _Well, it can't be that bad, can it?" Ryouta said, cowering behind Yukimaru._

" _We can only find out ourselves," said Tetsuya._

" _So, the king and queen said that someone would be here to guide us, yes? Where would this person be?"_

" _Over here!"_

 _Seijuro furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and whipped his head around. There was nobody there._

" _That's strange," Seijuro murmured. "I thought I heard someone…"_

" _You did hear someone. And you're looking the wrong way. I'm over here."_

 _Seijuro turned his head to the right from where the voice is coming from. Still nothing. He frowned and put a hand to his head._

" _Are you alright, Seijuro-kun?"_

" _I fear that I may be unwell," he said, still searching for whatever he just heard. "I keep hearing a voice, but there's nothing here."_

" _No, I heard it too," said Tetsuya._

" _I did too," said Ryouta._

" _Well if I heard it, and you two heard it, then where is it?"_

" _HANG ON MAN I'M COMING JUST HOLD YOUR HORSES."_

 _The three of them turned around and saw a glowing dark red orb floating next to them. It glided through the air until it was directly in front of Seijuro. Suddenly, the orb dissipated and out came a miniature person, no bigger than Seijuro's hand. And they had wings as well, hovering at eye level as Seijuro continued to stare._

" _Who are you?" Seijuro asked the redheaded winged creature._

" _I'm Taiga. And I'm a fairy sent to guide you through this swamp."_

—

"You did _not_ just make me a fairy," Taiga growled as everyone in the room snickered. Seijuro shrugged, a guilty but mischievous smile spreading across his face as he put the finishing touches on the newly added character.

"It was perfect timing, Taiga," he said. "You hadn't been introduced yet and we still needed to add a character."

"Then make me something else," Taiga protested. "I don't want to be a fairy."

"How cruel Taiga. You look very nice as a fairy. Look. I even added sparkles to your wings."

Taiga blushed furiously as everyone continued to silently laugh at him. This was so unfair.

"Just continue with the stupid comic…"

—

 _They all watched in awe as the fairy began to fly around them. So this was the person who was sent to them._

" _Taiga, is there a reason why you've been sent to guide us?" Seijuro asked._

" _Yeah," Taiga replied. "This place is like filled with scary things like monsters. I'm perfect for the job, since I'm not scared of anything."_

" _Arf!"_

" _AAAAH!"_

 _The fairy flew behind Seijuro, shaking in fear as he stared at the dog below him._

" _O-Oi," he stammered. "You didn't tell me you brought a dog with you!"_

" _What's wrong with Nigou?" asked Tetsuya._

" _I hate dogs!"_

" _But Taiga-kun, I thought you weren't afraid of anything."_

" _EXCEPT DOGS. DEFINITELY EXCEPT DOGS."_

 _Seijuro sighed._

" _We'll make sure Nigou doesn't go near you. Are you satisfied now?" Taiga uncertainly came out from behind the redhead, awkwardly clearing his throat._

" _I-I guess," he said. "Anyway, we better hurry."_

 _And so the fairy fluttered ahead of the small group, leading them into the ominous swamp up ahead._

…

 _Once they were in the swamp, they were very wary of their surroundings. This time, Tetsuya insisted on carrying Nigou so nothing bad happens to him._

" _This place gives me the creeps-ssu," Ryouta said from next to them. Yukimaru snorted in response as he trotted onwards, Seijuro momentarily stroking his mane before going back to surveying the area._

" _Yeah, I don't like it either," Seijuro murmured to his horse. "Anyway, we should be on guard at all times, right Tetsuya?"_

" _My sword is at the ready, Seijuro-kun."_

" _Wait! I'm the only one who doesn't have a weapon. What about me-ssu?"_

 _Tetsuya and Seijuro exchanged glances before Tetsuya sighed and reached into the bag he was carrying._

" _If you insist on it so much, I'll give you this."_

 _He tossed something to Ryouta and his quick reflexes allowed him to catch it with ease. When he opened his hands, in them was a dagger._

" _You can use this if worst comes to worst, Ryouta-kun."_

" _Aww, I don't get a sword?"_

" _We don't carry any extra swords. And I doubt you'd be able to properly wield one."_

" _I may be just a jester but I could probably wield a sword-ssu!"_

" _Ryouta-kun, I can't believe you've sunk so low."_

" _My profession has nothing to do with this!"_

" _No, I think he means you're actually sinking," Seijuro said, pulling on the reigns to signal Yukimaru to stop. Everyone looked down at Ryouta, who was already knee deep in what appeared to be some type of quicksand. And he was sinking fast._

" _EHHH?!" he cried out. "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?! I'M SINKING SOMEBODY HELP!"_

" _So noisy," Tetsuya said as a vein popped in his forehead. Seijuro chuckled._

" _Now, now, Tetsuya," he said, trying to appease the teal-haired knight. He took off the bag he was carrying and fished out a rope._

" _Ryouta, hold onto this," Seijuro said, throwing the other end of the rope over to the sinking blonde. Ryouta grabbed a hold of it and wound it around his wrists._

" _Tetsuya, grab a hold of the rope and help me pull."_

" _Okay."_

 _They both tugged fervently at the rope, but Ryouta wasn't budging. If anything, he was sinking further._

" _IT'S NOT WORKING!" he shouted._

" _What do we do, Seijuro-kun? We need more force if we're going to pull him out."_

 _Seijuro's eyes suddenly lit up._

" _Tetsuya…how tight can you tie a knot?"_

"… _Eh?"_

" _I'm going to need you to tie a knot around Yukimaru's saddle. Can you do that?"_

" _Leave it to me, Seijuro-kun."_

 _Tetsuya got to work, pulling the rope through a loop in the saddle before bringing it back around and under. He pulled and then double-tied it, making a sturdy knot that could probably hold out. That is, whatever he needed to tie it for anyway._

" _I've tied the knot," Tetsuya said. "Now what is it we're planning to do?" Seijuro smirked._

" _We're pulling him out, of course." He bent down and patted Yukimaru's head._

" _Go forward please." Yukimaru neighed and began to move. The rope that was originally slack was finally stretched out enough and the speed and force from Yukimaru's pulling was beginning to pull Ryouta out._

" _Seijuro-kun, I think it's working," Tetsuya said from behind him._

" _I should hope so," said Seijuro. "Come on, Yukimaru, just one more push."_

 _Yukimaru whinnied and, after one more pull, Ryouta was finally released from the grips of the quicksand. Ryouta crawled out from the pit and sighed in relief._

" _That was a close one-ssu," he said after his breathing evened out. Tetsuya turned back to the fairy, who was staring into space the whole time._

" _Taiga-kun, what's the problem?" he asked. Taiga gave them a nervous forced laugh as he pointed to the depths of the swamp._

" _Well," he said awkwardly. "Uh, I think you guys made too much noise," he said._

 _Everyone followed his gaze and looked into the depths of the swamp as well, shrinking back slightly when they heard something coming toward them. It was three black figures, all covered head to toe in moss with gleaming yellow eyes._

" _It seems we drew too much attention to ourselves," said Tetsuya. Seijuro remained calm as the figures approached them._

" _Then I suppose we'll be taking our leave," he said. "Ryouta don't let go of that rope. Tetsuya, you might want to hold onto me."_

 _Tetsuya nodded and clung to the redhead, unsure of what was going to happen next. Without warning, Seijuro pulled the reigns upward._

" _Giddy up!"_

 _Yukimaru reared upwards and broke out into a sprint, pulling Ryouta along with them (while blatantly ignoring his screaming). Taiga followed suit moments later. As soon as they took off, the black figures began to chase after them. Ryouta's cries of fear could be heard throughout the entire swamp._

" _Ryouta-kun, if you keep shouting, you're going to draw more monsters towards us," Tetsuya said as he continued to hold on to Seijuro._

" _I think I'm getting whiplash!" Ryouta sobbed as Yukimaru mercilessly dragged him into the mud and plants along the way._

" _I apologize, but you'll have to bear with it, there's no other way for you to keep up," said Seijuro. "Unless you'd rather walk of course…"_

" _NO, DRAGGING IS PERFECTLY FINE."_

" _Now, Taiga, where is this exit you speak of?"_

" _Turn right here," the fairy said. Seijuro pulled his reigns to the right and Yukimaru made a sharp turn. Unfortunately, the turn was so sharp and so sudden that it caused Ryouta to let go of the rope._

"… _Oops."_

" _Seijuro-kun, I think we have a man down."_

" _So it seems."_

 _Seijuro pulled the reigns again and Yukimaru slowed into a trot, and then stopped altogether._

" _Tetsuya, watch our things while I go and help him."_

" _Aye, aye."_

 _Seijuro ran back to where Ryouta was to find he was already being cornered by those strange monsters._

" _Seijurocchi do something!" he cried._

" _The dagger, Ryouta!"_

" _What?"_

" _Use the dagger!"_

" _Oh yeah!"_

 _Just as one of them was about to get close, Ryouta stuck the dagger in its hand, causing it to shriek in pain. While it was distracted, Seijuro grabbed Ryouta's hand and made a run for it._

" _Come on, we need to get back to the others and get out of here," said Seijuro._

 _As they were running away, Seijuro tripped on a vine, making Ryouta stop in his tracks._

" _Seijurocchi!"_

" _Run back to the others!" Seijuro said to him. "I'll hold it off. I'll come when I have an opportunity to escape."_

 _Ryouta nodded and ran, leaving Seijuro to deal with one of the swamp monsters while the other followed Ryouta. He reached to draw his sword, but froze when he felt nothing. Looking down, he realized his sword wasn't there. He had given it to Tetsuya all the way back at the bridge._

" _Uh, Tetsuya?"_

" _Yes, Seijuro-kun?"_

" _Can you give me my sword?"_

 _Tetsuya was preoccupied at the moment, slashing at the swamp monster that had come after them with his own sword._

" _I'm currently in the middle of something," he said._

" _Well, I sort of need it."_

" _I'm in a position where I can't reach for it."_

" _Then throw me the closest thing I can use."_

 _Tetsuya reached into the pouch and threw something in the air. Landing with a loud thud next to Seijuro, he picked it up and frowned when he realized what Tetsuya had thrown him._

" _Did you really have to throw me the Windex?"_

" _You said the closest thing."_

 _Seijuro groaned as he backed away from the monster. What the hell was he supposed to do with this anyway? It's just a dumb spray-bottle…wait…spray-bottle…_

 _The monster lunged at him, arms ready to engulf the redhead. Seijuro smirked. The monster left himself wide open. He sprayed the cleaning fluid in its eyes, the monster roaring as it covered its face. Seijuro used that time to get away, running towards the others before the effect of Windex wore off. Tetsuya was still fighting the monster and Seijuro wasn't close enough to spray it in the eyes, so he went for the next best thing and hoped that his aim was still good._

 _He flung the bottle at monster, the Windex hitting it square on the head as it crumpled in a heap on the ground. Seijuro quickly mounted his horse before giving Ryouta the rope again._

" _I guess the Windex was useful after all," he noted, pulling the reigns upward once more and Yukimaru sprinting away, finally getting everyone out of the swamp._

 _When they emerged, they finally took a break._

" _Finally, we're here," said Tetsuya._

" _And it seems that everyone is in one piece," Seijuro said._

" _Are you kidding?!" Ryouta said as he tried to stand up. "I was dragged around like a rag doll! I'm pretty sure I dislocated a few things."_

" _Well it could've been worse, you could've died."_

" _At least you made it," said Taiga. Seijuro narrowed his eyes at the fairy before him._

" _You haven't really done much to help, have you?"_

 _Taiga shrugged._

" _Hey, I'm just the guide." Ryouta grinned._

" _I guess you could say that he was FAIRY unhelpful."_

—

Everyone stared at Ryouta.

"What?"

"That joke was shit," said Shōgo.

"I agree," said Daiki.

"That pun was literally just the worst, nanodayo."

"Laaaaaame."

"Okay I get it! Just continue the story!"

—

 _It took them literally ages, but they finally reached the place they were looking for, the forbidden tower._

" _We've arrived," said Tetsuya. Seijuro nodded._

" _Excellent," he said. "Now we can finally confront the bandit and retrieve Princess Satsuki."_

" _I'm up here!"_

 _The four of them looked up at the top floor to find Satsuki poking her head out of the window._

" _It's the princess!" Ryouta cried._

" _Someone please come and get me!" she said. "Shōgo won't let me leave!"_

" _Don't worry, Princess Satsuki-san. Seijuro-kun and I are going to rescue you."_

" _Kyaaaa! I get to be rescued by Tetsu-kun! I'll be waiting!"_

 _They approached the door, ready to open it, when they saw it was locked. The door-handles had chains wrapped around them, all sealed shut with a padlock. Ryouta looked at it and frowned._

" _Um, I don't suppose either of you have a key, do you?" Tetsuya shook his head._

" _No, I don't believe we do. What do we do, Seijuro-kun?" Seijuro scratched his head._

" _I'm not sure," he admitted. "Perhaps there's something that I can use to pick the lock."_

 _With that, he went back to digging into his bag. In the midst of doing that, he dropped the box of pocky that the king had given him._

" _Can you please pick that up, Tetsuya?" Tetsuya bent down to get the box, picking it up as he stood up from the ground. On a whim, Tetsuya shrugged and opened the box, deciding he wanted a light snack while he waited for Seijuro to find something. That was when he saw it._

" _Seijuro-kun, look. I found a key in the pocky box."_

" _Hmm?"_

 _Seijuro turned his attention away from the bag and peered inside the small cardboard box. Inside, amongst the pocky sticks, was a rusty silver key._

" _What would this be doing in a place like this?" Seijuro murmured as he picked the key up. "Could it be the king left it in here by mistake?"_

" _I think it's for this door," said Tetsuya. "Remember what he said when he gave the box to us? He said that inside was the 'key' to our problems."_

 _Seijuro raised his eyebrows in surprise. So the king was actually being literal when he said that. He probably already had the key, so he put it somewhere where no one would look to take it. Seijuro guessed the purple-haired king wasn't as dim-witted as he thought._

" _Then I guess we'll use this to open the door."_

 _Seijuro put the key in the lock and twisted. The moment he did that, the padlock opened, allowing him to slide it off the chains and open the door. When the door was open, who else to be waiting for them inside than the bandit himself?_

" _So," said Shōgo "I guess we have to fight, now that I have a character appearance." (*CRASH* Goddammit not the fourth wall)_

" _That's perfectly fine with us," said Tetsuya, drawing his sword. Shōgo smirked._

" _Then I hope you're ready for THIS!" he shouted, pulling out a giant bazooka._

—

"Wait, wait, wait. Who gave you a bazooka?!" Daiki said, pointing at Shōgo's offending picture.

"What?" said Shōgo. "I ain't breakin' any rules."

"That's still unfair!" argued Taiga. "You can't have a bazooka when the other two have swords!"

"All that playin' honest crap ain't for me."

"Shōgo, your demands are unreasonable, nanodayo."

"Oh, I see how it is. Seijuro can get a damn horse but I can't have a bazooka?"

"I thought my horse was pretty reasonable…"

"Um…have you all forgotten about rescuing me?" Satsuki said.

"Fine then! I'll make it a rifle!"

"Denied."

"An AK-47."

"Denied."

"A pistol?"

"Denied."

"So I can't have _any_ guns?"

"Correct, nodayo."

"That's such bullshit!"

"Give me the paper."

"No way!"

Shintarou and Shōgo began fighting for the sheet of paper he was drawing on, much to the annoyance of the others.

"Guys you're gonna rip it," said Ryouta. Taiga took another drawing.

"Actually, now that we're talking about changes, can I make myself not a fairy anymore?"

"No, we're already at the end. You can't change your appearance."

"I could!"

"It's too late for that!"

Soon Daiki and Taiga were fighting over another part of the comic. While everyone tried to calm them down, they all started to get pulled into the argument, and then everyone was fighting. The only two who weren't were Tetsuya and Seijuro. They exchanged looks.

"This is an unfortunate turn of events," said Tetsuya.

"I agree," Seijuro replied. "What shall we do now?"

"Let's draw us leaving the tower, I think everyone else is too busy arguing."

"Good idea. The two knights can go stop for lunch somewhere."

"With vanilla milkshakes."

"Of course. We mustn't forget the vanilla milkshakes. Can we get one for Yukimaru?"

"Only if we get one for Nigou."

"Deal."

…

After three hours, the five of them at last started to hear the commotion upstairs. Chihiro looked up from his light novel.

"So they finally started to make noise," he said. Shuuzo rose from the couch.

"Well this is perfect timing, isn't it?" he said. "You said we should check on them soon. Come on, let's go see what they're up to.

The five of them went upstairs towards the guest room, finally hearing the incessant chatter that was going on inside the room. Shuuzo was the one who opened the door.

"Hey guys, why you are so— D'AAAWWWWW."

As the GoM stared at the door, Shuuzo began chuckling when he saw the dozens of comic pages scattered all over the floor along with the coloured pencils they were using. Reo looked about ready to die of cuteness as usual.

"You guys were drawing this whole time? That's so precious!" he squealed. Kotarou and Eikichi were pretty impressed.

"Woahhh, you guys used up a lot of paper," he observed, kneeling down on the floor next to all the drawings. Eikichi nodded.

"So this is what kept you quiet all this time," he said.

Chihiro shook his head, amused by the whole situation.

"See? I told you we didn't need to check on them."

~O~

In the end, they never did rescue the princess from the tower and the group of them were left to argue over how the story could've ended. At the moment, it was getting late and there was school the next day, so everyone had to say their goodbyes.

"Well, this weekend lasted about five seconds," said Taiga.

"I hear ya," said Ryouta. "I can't believe we have school tomorrow!"

"Taiga-kun, did you finish the math homework due tomorrow?"

"Oh crap! That was for tomorrow?!"

"You better not fail this semester, nanodayo. I refuse to play against a weakened Seirin because their ace would rather sit in remedial classes than play basketball."

"Shut it Shintarou! I'll do it alright?!"

Seijuro gave a short laugh as he and his brothers saw his cousins out at the doorway.

"I suppose we'll see you some other time, then."

"Come back soon!" said Reo. "It was another fun weekend!"

"Yeah! Come back soon!"

"Heh. Maybe next time I'll challenge you to some Call of Duty, Shuuzo."

"You're on, Eikichi. I'll be dropping these munchkins off at the station before I head back to my flat, so Chihiro, I'll call you when I've done it."

"Sure thing."

"Oi, you brats, say your thanks to the hosts."

"Thank you!" they all said in unison.

"It was no problem," said Chihiro. "Take care all of you."

They waved one last time towards the five brothers and departed, leaving them to stare at the nine retreating figures in the distance while saying their final goodbyes and wishing them safe travels. Once they were out of sight, Chihiro closed the door behind them.

"I'm going to start getting ingredients out for dinner," he said. While he made his way toward the kitchen, the rest of them spent time clearing up around the living room. Seijuro went upstairs into the guest room again to collect the coloured pencils up into the box when he realised that they still hadn't given the comic a proper conclusion. So, taking one more piece of paper, he went to work.

…

"Sei-chan? Are you in there?"

Seijuro looked up at the door as Reo and Kotarou came in.

"Reo-nii-san. Is something the matter?"

"Oh. Chihiro wanted all of us to help with dinner, so he asked us to call you."

"I see."

Seijuro stood up from his spot on the floor and left the room, briefly brushing past his two brothers. As he did, Reo went over to where he was sitting and picked up the sheet of paper he saw Seijuro working on. Just one look at it and he was smiling like an idiot.

"Sei-chan can be so cute sometimes."

Kotarou looked at the paper as well.

"Sweet drawing! Are you gonna keep it, Reo-nee?"

"But of course. It's going on my wall."

As they walked out of the room, Reo continued to smile at the drawing in front of him. It was a picture of the two knights, Yukimaru, Nigou, the jester, the king, the queen, the princess, the troll, the bandit and the fairy, all of them standing side-by-side as they held up a sign with two words: 'THE END'.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading I literally thought I was on drugs writing this chapter today lmao. This I think is literally the trashiest chapter I've ever written I'm laughing so hard rn at how I even thought of this like wtf. Anyway, I'm so rekt so I'm going to bed after I post my new fanfic. I hope you have time to read it. I'll continue to regularly update this one, but until my next update, you know what to do...**

 **Read and review please!**


	24. I don't think I'm that obsessed

**Hahahaha it's been nearly a month but here I am. I don't even have an excuse I'm just a piece of shit. But anyway, here is the next chapter.**

 **To Mya: I am literally working on your chapter right now so don't worry I'll post soon, I'm just trying to make it flow nicely. Please bear with me!**

 **On the bright side, THIS CHAPTER IS OVER 10K WORDS I WROTE A NOVELLA GUYS.**

 **But yeah, I think that's all there is to say. So, without further ado...**

 **Let the chapter begin!**

* * *

I don't think I'm that obsessed

Another Friday afternoon. It was a clear day without a cloud in sight. Coming home from basketball practice, Seijuro exhaled deeply as he felt the summer sun on the back of his neck. Nice days like this made him want to take a little more time just to appreciate the weather, so he slowed his pace to take a good look at the setting sun as he made his way back to the house. As he arrived back home, he unlocked the door and walked through. Closing the door behind him, he put his things down at the front and took off his shoes.

"I'm home," he called into the house. Hearing nothing, he assumed nobody was downstairs, so he shrugged it off and just decided to go up to his room to change. When he crossed the floor to the stairs, he stopped in his tracks to find that someone _was_ actually downstairs. Seijuro found Reo sitting on the couch, eyes glued to the TV. He padded over and sat next to his brother.

"Hello Reo-nii-san," he said. Reo started and turned to his side to where the redhead was occupying the space beside him.

"Ah, Sei-chan," he said. "When did you come in?"

Seijuro raised an eyebrow. Usually Reo would notice when someone came through the door.

"Just now." he replied. Reo nodded.

"I see," he said. A second later his attention was back to the TV screen. Seijuro frowned. The way things normally went is that when Seijuro came home from school or practice, Reo would ask him how his day went, and on a normal day, that conversation would end up lasting for around twenty minutes. But this time, Reo didn't say anything at all. Just 'I see'. Curious as to why he was being ignored, he tried calling his brother's name again.

"Reo-nii-san…"

No response.

"Reo-nii-san, I'm calling you."

Still no response.

Seijuro was beginning to get irritated.

"Reo-nii-san," he said, tugging fervently at his brother's sleeve. Only then did Reo notice.

"Hmm? What's wrong Sei-chan?" Reo asked, seeing the intense glower on his face.

"I would like to know what is so important for you to watch on TV that you insist on neglecting me," Seijuro huffed in annoyance. Reo laughed nervously and patted his head.

"Ahaha, I'm sorry Sei-chan," he said, trying to appease him. "It's just that this show is so interesting that I got distracted." Seijuro's eyes flickered to the TV screen and saw what was on. A man and a woman were having a conversation. But he couldn't understand what they were saying at all.

"This show isn't in Japanese," he pointed out.

"It isn't," Reo confirmed. "It's actually in Spanish. But there are Japanese subtitles on the bottom of the screen." Seijuro narrowed his eyes as he read the text at the bottom, the subtitles informing him that the conversation going on was about furniture. Why was Reo watching a Spanish show?

"Is this one of those soap operas?" Seijuro asked him. Reo nodded.

"Yes! It's a soap opera, a really good one I might add," Reo said. "I know! Do you want to watch it with me Sei-chan?" Seijuro hummed in thought.

"Hmm…I don't know," he said. Reo put his hands together.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun! Please?" Seijuro sighed. Well, it's not like he had anything better to do this evening.

"I suppose I can watch. Can we start from the first episode?"

"On it!"

…

After Reo started over, Seijuro sat next to him as they watched the first episode together. The series was called _'Mi Amor'_ and its episodes were an hour long each. The story was about this couple from Colombia named Rosalina and Pedro, and from what Seijuro saw from the first episode, it explored the beginnings of their relationship. They had a fated meeting in the market when they ran into each other, quite literally at that. Pedro had collided with the woman and caused her to drop her groceries. Picking them up for her, he offered to pay for them and invited her to have coffee afterwards. From there, they began to visit each other more often and soon their friendship developed into a romantic relationship. Reo was obviously interested in things like romance or drama. Seijuro was interested as well, surprisingly enough. However, he continuously made commentary throughout the entire hour.

"This man should have been more wary of his surroundings. He wouldn't have knocked her groceries to the floor that way."

"But Sei-chan, that's how they met! It's meant to be a fated meeting."

"At least he's buying the groceries for her. After what he did to her mangoes, I would have expected recompense as well."

"I suppose so…"

"And I'd rather not go out for coffee, I'm not much of a coffee person. I'd much rather enjoy a calming cup of tea…and tofu soup."

"Sei-chan I don't think they make that dish in South America."

"What kind of monstrosity is that?"

After the episode finished, Reo took a hold of the remote control and his finger moved toward the power button at the top left corner. Seijuro watched as Reo made his way to shut off the TV.

"Reo-nii-san, what are you doing? Aren't you going to play the next episode?" Reo looked over at him and blinked.

"You wanted to continue?" Seijuro nodded.

"Yes. This show intrigues me. Can we watch the next episode?" Reo smiled.

"Of course! Now, where are the recordings…?"

Sometime later, after about two hours, Chihiro walks downstairs. It was already near eight o'clock and Chihiro was ready to make dinner, so he came downstairs and into the kitchen. Just as he was about to open the fridge, he heard the sound of the TV and turned and saw the two watching in the living room.

"Seijuro, Reo, can you help with dinner?"

When he was met with silence, he spoke again.

"Oi, you two. Come to the kitchen."

Another silence.

Feeling a vein pop in his head, Chihiro grunted angrily as he strode over to the couch where they were sat.

"Are you guys even listening to me? I said come to the kitchen."

He snapped a finger in front of their faces and they finally showed some sort of reaction. Surprised at the sudden sound of snapping, they jolted and looked up, where their older brother was standing over them, crossing his arms in disapproval.

"Are you guys deaf or something? I've told you three times already to come help with dinner. Quit staring at the TV and help me," he said, gaining their attention. "And Seijuro, how long have you been sitting in front of the screen that you're still in your uniform? Go upstairs and change, and call the other two while you're at it. Hopefully they'll be more responsive than you."

Seijuro stood up, looking rather sheepish, and made his way to the stairs like he originally intended to do three hours before. Meanwhile Reo exited the living room and entered the kitchen, where he opened the fridge and began taking out various ingredients. Chihiro shook his head and took the remote to turn the TV off. Looking clearly at the screen, Chihiro just caught a glimpse of what they were watching before the end credits began to roll. It looked like some drama series, but he couldn't be sure. Whatever it was, it couldn't possibly be that interesting. Pressing the button he was looking for and powering down the TV, Chihiro set the remote back on the coffee table and walked out, ready to start prepping the food.

~O~

After that little display, Chihiro began to notice something strange with Reo and Seijuro. Since then, they sat in the living room every Friday and kept their eyes glued to the screen for two to three hours at a time, only getting up if they wanted a drink or needed to go to the bathroom. Even then, one person would stay in the living room to keep the program paused, or, if that particular part of the episode wasn't that interesting, continue watching and debrief the other of what they missed when they returned. On occasion, he heard a couple names thrown around when they were busy giving commentary such as 'Rosalina' and 'Pedro', but that was the most he got. Chihiro didn't know what exactly they were watching. All he knew is that when they did watch it, it was like they blocked out the entire world. All they did was focus on the TV. As the eldest, he probably shouldn't condone sitting in front of the TV for so long, but as long as they kept this activity to just Fridays only, then he didn't need to interfere. On the plus side, it kept the house quieter, so Chihiro could enjoy his evening in peace. He wasn't aware of the downsides until around a month later, when Chihiro was reading a novel in the living room on a Saturday afternoon and Seijuro had just come downstairs to get a drink of water. He looked at his wrist, but realized he didn't have his watch on him, so he resorted to plan B.

"Seijuro, what's the time?"

" _Son las dos y media, Chihiro-nii-san._ "

"What the—"

Chihiro looked up from his novel and stared incredulously at the redhead.

"What did you just say?" Seijuro blinked.

"I said it's two-thirty."

"…Oh."

Once Seijuro had filled his glass with water, he was done; so he went straight back up the stairs, and the door to his room shut. Chihiro was still staring at the place where Seijuro was just standing, a dumbfounded look written all over his face. Did he hear him correctly? He was so sure the first time Seijuro answered him he wasn't even speaking Japanese. What language was that? Could it be that Seijuro was messing with him? No, it couldn't be. His neutral and innocent expression didn't give any indication of mischievous intentions. Maybe Chihiro was just going crazy. But he really did hear something.

"It must've been my imagination," he mumbled. No more was said on that. Chihiro just pretended it didn't happen and it never resurfaced. That is until there was a second occurrence later that same day…

It was around six o'clock and Chihiro was thirsty, so he opened the fridge to get a drink. That was when Reo came downstairs. Chihiro heard the footsteps and saw the black-haired teenager making his way into the kitchen to grab an apple from the fruit bowl.

"Hey," said Chihiro. Reo had already taken a bite of the apple and began chewing, so he resorted to a brief wave instead of verbally responding.

"I'm getting a drink. Do you want one?" he asked as he stuck his head into the fridge. He heard Reo swallow and then came his response.

" _Zumo de naranja por favor._ "

Chihiro's eyes went wide as he whipped his head around and looked at Reo.

"What was that?" he said. Mimicking Seijuro's actions earlier, he merely blinked.

"I said orange juice please."

"S-Sure…"

Chihiro uneasily poured a glass of orange juice and handed it to him. Reo thanked him and took the glass, making his way out of the kitchen and back to his room. Even after Chihiro heard the door close, his confused expression had not changed. First Seijuro, now Reo? What was going on? And what language was that? Chihiro personally thought it sounded like gibberish, but this was ridiculous. How could this happen two times in a row with two different people? At first he thought he was just imagining things, but now Chihiro was one hundred percent sure that he just flat-out lost his mind. But if it happened twice then it couldn't possibly be coincidence. Could it be possible that it was whatever they sat down to watch on Friday that was the cause? He couldn't be sure. It couldn't possibly get worse than that, right?

Oh how wrong he was.

It was a week after and Chihiro had just come downstairs from his room when he heard the TV blaring. As he guessed, Reo and Seijuro were watching another episode with Rosalina and Pedro. He could hear their commentary very clearly, despite the fact that he was all the way in the kitchen. This was probably because they were outright angry at something that happened in the show.

"What on earth has gotten into her?!" he heard Reo cry.

"Rosalina, what are you doing cheating on Pedro? Have you no shame?" is what he heard come from Seijuro.

Chihiro sighed as he stared at the two. He couldn't believe them. What was so important about this show that they had to watch it _every_ Friday? He kept his distance and continued to observe them. Their commentary went back and forth like that until it abruptly stopped after five minutes. Chihiro raised an eyebrow but didn't make any move to leave his spot in the kitchen. The silence pursued for another fifteen minutes before the end credits began to roll on screen. Even then, no one made a sound and they hadn't even gotten up from the couch. Puzzled, Chihiro finally decided to get up and investigate. He walked over and entered the living room.

"Oi you two, what's going—" He nearly choked at the sight he saw before him. As he stared at his two brothers, he suddenly became more irritated than concerned at what he was looking at.

"Why are _both_ of you crying?"

He was ready to grab his shoes and just leave the house so he wouldn't have to deal with this. Here were his two younger brothers, sitting on the couch, doing nothing but crying. Their eyes remained on the TV screen as the end credits continued and tears were streaming down both of their faces.

When Reo tried to answer him, it came out as a strangled sob as he put his head in his hands and bawled his eyes out. Chihiro's eye twitched.

"Reo. Explain."

Reo looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes.

" _Mi corazón es roto…ROSALINA POR QUÉ?!_ "

His head went back into his hands and he continued sobbing, leaving Chihiro more confused than before he asked. His eyes darted to Seijuro, who still hadn't said anything.

"Seijuro, I'm not asking you two again. Why are you crying? And answer me in a language that I can actually understand." Seijuro sniffed.

"I'm not crying," he said. Unbelievable.

"What the hell are you going on about?" said Chihiro, already reaching his limit. "There are clearly tears coming out of your eyes." Seijuro still denied it.

"I am not crying."

"Yes you are."

"I'm not."

"Then why are you hiding your face?"

"There's a lot of dust in the air. You should open a window, Chihiro-nii-san."

"Say that when your voice doesn't crack four times in two sentences."

"…"

"You have three seconds to tell me the problem or I'm locking you both out of the house."

"It was Rosalina."

"…Huh?"

Seijuro began wiping his eyes as he clarified his statement.

"In the soap opera that we were watching. Rosalina cheated on Pedro with another man." Reo nodded in the midst of his tears.

"She…she just tossed him aside like a piece of trash. HOW COULD SHE?!"

"I don't believe this," said Chihiro. "So when you were ten and you tore a ligament, you were completely calm when you told me to take you to the hospital. But when Rosalina cheats on Pedro you're a sobbing mess?"

"I don't think you understand the gravity of my emotions, Chihiro-nii-san."

"You know what? I'm not interested in your explanation anymore. Cry until morning for all I care." That being said, he turned on his heels and left the living room, storming upstairs to the confines of his room. As he stomped down the hallway, he passed by Eikichi and Kotarou who were going downstairs.

"Hey Chihiro, what's up with you?" asked Eikichi. Chihiro stopped.

"I'm so done with this family," he said, and slammed the door shut.

When Chihiro had cooled himself down, he went downstairs five hours later to make dinner. As soon as he got off the staircase, his mouth flew open when he saw what was going on in the living room. Seijuro and Reo were sitting there, but Kotarou and Eikichi were sitting in the living room as well. And they were _all_ crying.

"HOW COULD ROSALINA DO SOMETHING SO HORRIBLE?!" Kotarou wailed in despair. Eikichi was biting a pillow to prevent himself from making (too much) noise.

"To think that she could cheat on him like that… Disgusting!" Chihiro felt a surge of anger course through his body.

"YOU FUCKING SHOWED THEM THE SOAP OPERA DIDN'T YOU?!"

The other four turned towards him with tears in all of their eyes before shouting:

"ROSALINAAAAAA!"

Chihiro stomped back up the stairs.

"SCREW THIS, I'M GOING TO BED. YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN DINNER."

~O~

Ever since that day, Reo and Seijuro got the other two hooked to this show. It drove Chihiro up the wall with insanity. Every time they went out they were busy fanboying about the newest episode together or sobbing over the sad or emotional ending and Chihiro had enough. Especially during that one outing where he made the biggest mistake of his life, when they went grocery shopping one day.

"Are you sure we don't need mushrooms, Chihiro?" Reo asked, reading from the shopping list. He shook his head.

"Nah. It's not that important to me."

The four of them stopped in their tracks as they stared at their older brother in disbelief. He realized they had stopped and turned around.

"What is it?" Kotarou's eyes started welling up with tears.

"That's what Rosalina said about her relationship with Pedro…"

By the time Chihiro even knew what happened, the four of them were already an emotional wreck, half of them sobbing over the trauma and the other half not necessarily sobbing but just standing there in horror while the tears ran down their cheeks. Although all of them were shocked when they looked over at Chihiro and saw that he was also tearing up.

"Chihiro, why are you crying?" Kotarou asked. Chihiro sniffed loudly.

"I'm crying because all of you are getting on my FUCKING NERVES."

And that was how the five brothers completely embarrassed themselves in the public shopping centre.

…

Soon enough, it became a tradition that the four of them took the time out of their Friday evening to go and watch this soap opera. Chihiro came downstairs one Friday to find the four already curled up in their pyjamas in the living room. Kotarou and Eikichi were wrapped in blankets, sitting next to the coffee table (which was completely covered in snacks) and Seijuro was flipping through their recordings as he sat between Reo's legs, Reo spending his time meticulously drying the younger boy's hair. Chihiro was planning on sneaking past to go in the kitchen to get a drink, and then quickly go upstairs. Ever since the four of them started watching this series, they made Chihiro their designated errand boy. He refused to do anything of the sort, so he tried to avoid going to the living room as often as possible. But since he was so thirsty, he had to make an exception. As soon as he poured himself a drink, he was gonna leg it back to his room. Unfortunately this wasn't the case, because the minute he stepped off the staircase, the floorboard creaked, and four heads jerked to his direction.

"Ah~ it's Chihiro," Reo said. "Perfect timing."

Chihiro mentally cursed at being caught out. All he wanted was a peaceful evening to himself, but even now that the other four were busy amongst themselves, he couldn't get that peaceful evening, since they were so hell-bent on making him some personal slave.

"What do you want this time?" he sighed, realizing that there was no point in running anymore.

"Could you please get us some ice cream? We ran out."

"You want me to leave the comfort of my own house to get you four ice cream?"

"In a nutshell, yes."

They were freaking lucky that he was wearing something decent enough to just put on his shoes and leave.

" _Fine,_ " He hissed through his teeth. "I'll get your stupid ice cream. I wanted to take a walk anyway."

He walked to the front door and put on his shoes that he left there. As he grabbed the house key, he turned to his brothers one more time.

"I'm leaving now, so tell me what flavour you want."

"Chocolate!"

"Cookie dough!"

"No, get strawberry!"

"Vanilla!"

From there they spent thirty whole seconds shouting so many ice cream flavours at Chihiro that it made his head spin. He didn't really hear which flavour they actually wanted, so he just left the house. Later when he came home, it was revealed that he bought all of the flavours they had so he wouldn't get yelled at for choosing the wrong one. They would spend days eating ice cream after that.

…

If there's anything worse than having to be ready to leave the house at any minute to go ice cream shopping for his four younger brothers, it's buying the other ridiculous things that they needed. Since this soap opera was probably the most emotional thing known to man, they used up all the tissues in the house while they were busy sobbing their hearts out. It was so bad that it got to a point where Chihiro would have to take the time out of his day once a week to go tissue shopping. Yes, tissue shopping. The most infuriating thing out of all of it was that there was a specific brand that they preferred using, so if he didn't get that particular brand of tissue, then he got yelled at. This had been going on for weeks now.

When he entered the store, he went straight for the tissues and took four boxes, one for each of his idiot siblings, and went to the counter. As he set the items on the counter to get his wallet from his pocket, the man at the counter began scanning the tissue boxes.

"That'll be seven hundred yen," he said. Chihiro handed the man the money and put his wallet back in his pocket. After coming here to buy tissues so often, he knew how much four tissue boxes cost, and so he now brought exact change.

"By the way…are you alright?"

Chihiro looked up at the employee who had scanned his items and cocked his head to the side in confusion. Why was he talking to him?

"I don't know what you mean," said Chihiro.

"I mean, you come here to buy tissues every week…so I'm bit…concerned."

"About what?"

"Well—uh…"

Chihiro raised an eyebrow. Why was this man acting so awkward? What could he possibly be doing with all these tissues by himself…?

Oh no.

OH no.

OH _NO_.

Chihiro went red all the way up to his ears at the realization of what the man was trying to imply.

"I'M NOT BUYING THESE TISSUES TO JERK OFF, I'M BUYING THEM BECAUSE MY BROTHERS ARE OVER-EMOTIONAL ASSHOLES!"

He snatched the tissue boxes from the man and ran out of the store.

When he arrived home, the four brothers were busy watching the program when he stomped into the living room and threw the tissue boxes at Kotarou, which knocked him off the couch.

"Take your damn tissues," he snapped. They all looked at him up and down.

"Chihiro, why are you all red?" Kotarou asked.

"It's cold."

"It's twenty-five degrees."

"I ran."

"You're not out of breath."

"Do you have a fever? Are you sick?"

"YEAH I'M SICK OF YOU FOUR!" he shouted and went upstairs.

He never went to buy tissues at that store again.

~O~

After that incident it only continued to downspiral. After Reo and Seijuro infected the other two, the infection spread to the rest of their family after Seijuro made a phone call to recommend the show to his cousins one weekend. After that, the four of them would always have an enormous group chat with the rest of the GoM to discuss their progress with the show and what they think of it so far. Chihiro was surprised to find that literally the entire GoM willingly started the series. Maybe it was just because Seijuro told them to watch it, but either way, all of them became hooked. It soon got to a point where their usual weekly affairs became more obsessive than recreational. Chihiro came downstairs one day and they were all sitting in the darkness of the living room, curtains closed. He thought they were watching that god forsaken soap opera, since he heard conversation, but the TV was off. Wondering what the cause of their strange behaviour was, he went over to the entrance of the living room. It was nothing like he imagined.

All four of them. ALL FOUR OF THEM, were all on their laptops, communicating with the other rainbow relatives. Reo was talking with Satsuki and Ryouta, Kotarou was talking with Taiga and Daiki, Eikichi was talking with Atsushi and Shōgo, and Seijuro was talking with Tetsuya and Shintarou. All of them were on some sort of group Skype call between them, since they couldn't have one group chat between twelve people and everyone was just busy talking about the series. Chihiro thought it was the weirdest thing ever. Never did he think that these people would have common ground, considering their clashing personalities.

"And then she just cheated on him like that. Horrible right?"

"I agree Seijuro-kun. It was irresponsible of Rosalina to be so unfaithful in her relationship."

"Pedro was also in the wrong for not watching her closely enough, nanodayo."

"Shintarou is right you know, but I still feel like Pedro has been wronged."

"Rosa-chin should go back to Pedro-chin~. He gives her sweets."

"That dude she's having an affair with is a creep anyway! That weird-ass no-name just came outta fucking nowhere."

"Right? He doesn't even have muscles!"

"Of course you would think about muscles, Eikichi. But a man is more than his exterior."

"Maybe Rosalina cheated on Pedro because she was focusing more on the other man's exterior."

"Ohhh! Satsukicchi is perceptive as always-ssu!"

"But I thought she loved Pedro."

"Same, Kotarou-san. I thought she had a good relationship with that guy."

"I would. Rosalina has huge tits."

"Shut it Ahomine Daiki!"

"You first Bakagami Taiga!"

He's been hearing these conversations go on downstairs for ages. Just how long were they talking about it? It must have been for hours. And it was getting noisy in the house so he wasn't happy. So he walked into the living room and, one by one, closed all their laptops, which earned many complaints from his brothers.

"Oi, Chihiro what're you doing?!"

"I was on a Skype call!"

"Don't you know it's rude to shut people's laptops while they're Skyping?"

"Chihiro-nii-san, I was busy…"

He scowled at the four of them.

"You all have been sitting here all day on your laptops in the dark."

"So?" they all said in unison. Chihiro pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"So I'm saying that it's unhealthy. Get the hell up from the couch and go outside. Do something _productive_ for a change."

"How about you do something we want for a change?" said Reo.

"Yes, why don't you watch with us?" said Seijuro. "It's a very stirring soap opera, Chihiro-nii-san." He turned his nose up at the idea.

"Forget it," he said. "I'm not interested in watching it."

They all exchanged looks before the three of them glanced at Eikichi. They must have come up with some sort of silent agreement in the five seconds they were staring at each other, because Eikichi stood up and grabbed Chihiro, throwing him in between Seijuro and Reo on the couch.

"What do you guys think you're doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Reo said. "We're going to make you watch it of course."

"Hah?! No way! I'm leaving!"

"Are you so sure about that, Chihiro-nii-san?" Seijuro asked, choosing this time to lay his body across Chihiro's lap. His older brother let out a low growl.

"Get off Seijuro."

"Hmm? Did you say something, Chihiro-nii-san?" Seijuro said, his voice sounding annoyingly languid.

"I said get off."

"No."

"Ughhhh…"

Chihiro couldn't have been in a worse situation. He was stuck on the couch, forced to watch some dumb soap opera, and his brothers were not taking no for an answer. Just great. He gritted his teeth.

"Fine," he said. "I'll watch one episode, but _only_ one episode."

"If you say so."

When they turned on the TV, they went for the recordings and pressed on the first episode. When the intro began to play, the four brothers fell quiet and their attention was completely turned towards the program. Chihiro held back a groan. Why were they so attentive even though they must have watched the first episode countless numbers of times? It probably wasn't that good anyway. He didn't know what his brothers were so hyped up about. But after the first five minutes, Chihiro stopped complaining and actually began to watch the show and soon it had his full attention. By the time the first episode was over, he was so immersed that he hadn't realized it finished. As the end credits began to roll, he didn't make a move to stand up, and when the other four noticed, they remained silent as they pressed play on episode two. Chihiro bit his lip as his eyes were directed towards the TV again. Shit. He was hooked.

One episode turned to two episodes and two episodes turned into twelve. He wasn't sure how he ended up sitting in the living room at one o'clock in the morning without a purpose in life, but it happened, and the other four were beside themselves with joy that they had successfully converted Chihiro as well. It was only when the end credits for episode twelve finished that he realized what just happened.

"I can't believe I just watched every episode," he said, still staring blankly into space. "Where is the next one?"

"Not out yet," Seijuro replied. "But the season finale is next week. We've invited everyone over to come watch it together, so I do hope you'll attend the viewing session, Chihiro-nii-san."

He didn't say anything in reply, but he knew he was going to be there. He got himself into this mess, so he might as well finish it.

~O~

The weekend rolled around again and that meant the season finale for ' _Mi Amor_ '. It was going to be viewed on a Saturday, so the brothers had to prepare themselves beforehand. Their cousins would be coming over to view the finale with them, so that meant three times as many snacks, three times as many tissues, and three times as much ice cream. Intense grocery shopping was in order. The grocery store manager would be in for a treat when they saw how much the five were buying. It was also quite entertaining to see Seijuro sitting cross-legged in a trolley while Kotarou pushed him around at the speed of light, the redhead giving him precise directions like a highly calibrated GPS.

"We are approaching the snacks section, Kotarou-nii-san, so you have to make a sharp left in ten metres. Be ready."

"Roger!"

They were going at high speeds; the aisle was coming up fast.

"Nine metres…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one— Now, Kotarou-nii-san!"

Kotarou skidded one of his feet across the ground and swerved the cart with all the force he could muster. They smoothly entered the aisle and still had speed to propel them through. While they zoomed past all the brands, Seijuro quickly pulled bags of chips and the like off the shelf and into the cart. He was just about to grab the last one when it slipped from his fingers and it fell onto the floor. Seijuro looked back at his brother.

"Reo-nii-san!"

Reo, who was behind them with the shopping list quickly picked up the bag of chips from the floor and shot it into the air. It made an arc as it spun around, and then, just as their cart was about to zoom out of the aisle, it went in. Kotarou and Seijuro looked down at the bag of chips that just landed in the cart. Kotarou raised a fist in the air in victory.

"THREEEEE POINTEEEEEEER!"

…

Finally getting all the necessities they needed from the store, the five of them returned and set everything up in the living room. Snacks and tissues on the table, ice cream in the freezer, cushions on the floor, blankets on the couch, curtains tightly shut and the remote resting next to the TV. By the time they finished, it looked like a lazy man's paradise.

"They should be coming soon, shouldn't they?" Seijuro asked as he sat down on the couch. Chihiro looked at his watch.

"Yeah," he said they should probably be at the door any minute now."

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Everyone's heads were turned to the door.

"Speak of the devils and they shall appear," said Reo. "Let's go and answer it."

Standing up, the other four followed Reo's lead and walked over to the door. When it was unlocked and opened, it revealed eight of their cousins, who were all ready for the season finale of the show.

"Hey, we've been waiting for you," said Seijuro, peering out from behind Reo.

"Well, we would've been earlier if _someone_ didn't oversleep," said Satsuki, who was glaring quite obviously at Daiki. He frowned.

"Quit trying to blame this on me Satsuki!" he complained. "We were also running late because we lost Tetsu!"

"I told you, I wasn't lost," Tetsuya replied monotonously. "I was standing next to all of you the whole time."

"Putting that aside," said Shintarou. "It would be best for us to enter before we are propelled into an unnecessary argument."

"Ah, of course. Come in everyone."

They all entered the house and put their things down, making their way to the living room to sit down. Already Daiki, Taiga and Atsushi were drooling from the amount of snacks on the table. Shintarou walked past and whacked them all across the head.

"Enough salivating before you drown us all, nanodayo."

As everyone found a space in the living room and sat down, Chihiro grabbed the remote and switched on the TV. The black screen was soon replaced with colour and the opening theme for ' _Mi Amor_ ' began to play. As soon as the theme started, everyone's eyes were directed towards the TV and the room quieted down as they prepared themselves for the final episode.

It was a dramatic one. Pedro finally caught up with Rosalina's cheating and caught her out with the man she was seeing. They had rented a hotel room for the night and he found out about said reservation and 'crashed the party' so to speak. Unfortunately he was too late, and he burst into the room to find the two in the bed, guilty expressions on their faces, the intentions clear. Pedro was ready to fight the man, dragging him out and holding him by the collar, but Rosalina stopped them.

"Stop the fighting!" she cried. "I won't allow you to hurt each other over this!" Pedro's fist hovered over the man's face.

"Are you siding with him?!" he said, the anger and hurt apparent in his voice. "I was there for you Rosalina. I _loved_ you. How could you do this to me?"

"She's moved on," the man said. "She doesn't love you anymore. That's why she's with me."

"Impossible!" he shouted. The two men stared deep into her eyes.

"Rosalina…"

"Which one of us will you choose?"

As they closed up on her shocked face, the screen faded to black, and the words 'To be continued' popped up, before they vanished and the end credits began to play. As the lively Spanish tune pursued, everyone sat in silence with wide eyes as they processed the ending.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"WHERE'S SEASON TWO?!"

…

Shuuzo sighed in relief as he stepped up to the front door of the familiar household. He wasn't planning to come here, but he got bored, and so he thought he's come and surprise his cousins today. So he reached a fist up and gave three loud knocks. When he knocked, it pushed the door, and it creaked as it opened slightly.

 _That's odd_ , he thought, _the door shouldn't be open. Are they at home?_

He pushed the door all the way open as he gingerly stepped into the house.

"Uh hello?" he called. All the lights were off, so Shuuzo would have assumed that they went out, had it not been for the continuous clicking sound he heard from the living room. Taking off his shoes and going to investigate, he found all of his cousins, huddled up in the living room as they were searching through their laptops.

"Come on guys, we _have_ to find season two!"

"We're trying, but all the websites we've gone through are blocked in Japan!"

"I found one, but I'm not sure if this website is even legal."

"IT DOESN'T MATTER."

"Finding season two of ' _Mi Amor_ ' is much more important than abiding by the laws of our country."

"Oi what the hell are you guys doing?" Shuuzo asked.

"SHUUZO THANK _GOD_ YOU'RE HERE," said Reo, being the only person bothered enough to acknowledge his presence. "Come in here and help us look."

"What? I don't want—"

Before he could even finish his sentence, he was yanked into the living room and thrown a laptop by his cousins as the rest of them searched every single website in the Google search engine. They even went past page one of the search results. That's how desperate they were.

"I have no idea what I'm looking for," Shuuzo said as he scrolled down the search results on the laptop screen.

"What do you mean?" said Seijuro. "Obviously you're supposed to be looking for season two of ' _Mi Amor_ ', Shuuzo-san. _Tu eres muy estúpido._ "

"I don't know what language that was but I'm fairly certain you just insulted me! And what the hell is ' _Mi Amor_ '?!"

Daiki scoffed.

"Only the greatest soap opera of all time," he said. "Who raised you?"

Shuuzo glared dangerously at him as he stood up from his chair.

"Oho? And who raised you, thinking you can talk to your seniors like that? Wanna die you brat?"

Seijuro pushed him back onto the chair he was sitting on.

"No. You have to help us look. So supress your murderous urges for now."

Shuuzo grumbled as he allowed himself to be scolded by a middle-schooler.

"I can't believe this."

"Oh, guys, I think I found one!" Chihiro said, not even attempting to mask the excitement in his voice. Everyone ran over and stared at his laptop screen in surprise.

"You did?!"

"Seriously?!"

"Chihiro actually found one!"

"That's amazing, Chihiro-nii-san!"

They all watched with baited breath as Chihiro tested out the link. He hesitantly moved his cursor over the play button and clicked. The screen buffered for about ten seconds, and then they saw it. The opening theme to ' _Mi Amor_ '.

"IT WOOOOOOORKED!"

They all cheered and some of them even did victory dances as they finally found what they were looking for. Chihiro got up and put his laptop next to the TV.

"Okay, if I use the HDMI cable, I can hook it up to the TV so the TV screen will play what's on my laptop."

"Sweet!"

"Season two here we come!"

Shuuzo furrowed his brows in confusion.

"Why are all of you so excited? What's so good about this soap opera anyway?"

Thirteen heads turned to glare at him. Poor naïve Shuuzo hadn't realized that it wasn't his place to speak against the soap opera, not around so many avid fans. So when the thirteen of them began approaching Shuuzo with a homicidal look in their eyes, it was at that moment Shuuzo knew…he fucked up.

…

When Chihiro hooked up his laptop to the TV, the thirteen of them were able to watch the soap opera with no trouble at all. The first episode of season two was sure to be packed with drama after how the previous season concluded. Rosalina would be forced to choose between the man she loved and the man she is seeing behind his back. As the opening theme played, Shuuzo regained his consciousness and realized that he was lying face down on the floor. He felt a weight placed on his back, so he lifted his head and turned it around to find that Tetsuya and Seijuro were sitting on him.

"Oi, get off me you two!" he growled. Seijuro and Tetsuya looked down.

"Ah, it seems he woke up, Seijuro-kun."

"Indeed Tetsuya. How was your nap, Shuuzo-san? Did you sleep well?"

"Sleep well my ass! What the hell are you sitting on me for?!"

"That's a silly question. It's obviously because you opposed ' _Mi Amor_ '."

"THAT DOESN'T GIVE YOU RIGHT TO USE ME AS A CHAIR."

Everyone else in the room immediately shushed him and then continued to watch the program. Shuuzo groaned.

"You know what? I think I'll go for a walk."

Pushing the other two off him and blatantly ignoring their complaints, Shuuzo stood up from the floor and dusted himself off. He began heading for the front door.

"Oh, Shuuzo, are you going out?" Shuuzo turned back around to the living room to find that Reo was speaking to him.

"Yes, I am," he said. "What of it?"

"We ran out of ice cream again. Can you please buy some more?"

"Haaa?!"

"Well, since Chihiro-nii-san is watching, he can't buy some for us. So we'll make do with what we have."

"I am not a 'what'! Don't treat me like some object!"

"Please Shuuzo?" Reo begged. "You were going to go out anyway."

"Alright, I'll get your ice cream," he sighed. On the bright side, he'll be away from this house for longer. "What flavour do you want?"

"All of them," they said in unison. Shuuzo gaped.

"You can't be serious…"

Chihiro sighed.

"They're not joking. Buy all of them."

Shuuzo didn't question anything else. He just grabbed the money from Chihiro and left the house. When he was bringing the ice cream back, he looked absolutely ridiculous in the streets, and he received many strange looks from the people that walked by. There was even one guy who asked if it was his girl's 'time of the month'. It was completely humiliating. When he entered the house once more, everyone was so engrossed in the show that no one actually noticed him come in. He shook his head. Someone could rob the house and they wouldn't notice until the end credits began to roll. But as he stood there near the entrance, watching everyone who sat in the living room, he noticed how quiet it was. When they watched this soap opera, it was like everyone got along. Daiki and Taiga were hugging each other over the emotional scenes, Ryouta wasn't talking for once, Atsushi was _sharing_ his snacks, Shōgo wasn't fighting anyone, and everyone knew where Tetsuya was because he hadn't moved at all from his spot. Shuuzo may not have a single idea why they were so obsessed with this show, but as long as it kept his cousins from butting heads or causing trouble every five seconds, then it was alright with him.

Seijuro kept using his Emperor Eye to see the future of the next episode, and so everyone wanted spoilers, but he would never tell. The next episode was apparently really emotional, because Shuuzo saw a single tear slip down the redhead's cheek as his vision ended.

"EH? SEIJUROCCHI'S CRYING!"

"WHAT? HOW EMOTIONAL IS THE NEXT EPISODE?"

"TELL US!"

"WHAT DO YOUR EMPEROR EYES SEE, SEIJURO-KUN?"

Seijuro shook his head.

"I can't say," he said. "It's too painful."

"Aww come on!"

"That's no fair! Tell us what happened!"

Shuuzo sat on the sidelines confused as ever. It amazed him how Seijuro was crying prematurely over an episode he hasn't even seen yet. And using his Emperor Eye (which was _supposed_ to be used for basketball) was ridiculous. And what the hell was with these visions of the future? What was this, ' _That's so Raven_ '? He needed to put a stop to this already. His cousins were on the verge of insanity. So when the episode ended, Shuuzo stood up and took the remote, switching the TV off.

"What are you doing Shuuzo?!"

"We're still gonna watch!"

"You guys have watched way too much TV for today," Shuuzo said. "It's not good to stay indoors all day like this. And staring at bright screens in the dark is bad for your eyes! Open the curtains."

Everyone stared in horror as Shuuzo made his way for the curtains in the living room. Seijuro ran over and grabbed Shuuzo's hand before it could get a hold of them.

"Wait, Shuuzo-san, please don't do that."

"What? Afraid of a little sunshine?"

With that, Shuuzo used his other hand and yanked the curtains open, causing severe reactions from the other twelve.

"THE LIIIIIIIGHT! IT BUUUUUURNS!" Kotarou screamed, shying away from the curtains and hissing like a vampire. Taiga and Daiki immediately jump behind the couch to take shelter. Ryouta just immediately starts crying. Shōgo curls up into a ball under his blanket and moans like he's in pain. Satsuki is hiding behind Tetsuya just like Reo is hiding behind Eikichi to shield their eyes. Atsushi grunts as the light hits his eyes and uses his hand to cover it. Chihiro puts a pillow over his face. Meanwhile Shintarou is wondering what's happening as his transitioning lenses slowly darken and his eyes adjust to the harsh light.

"What is wrong with you all?" Shuuzo exclaimed. "It's just the sun! You're not gonna turn to ash or anything! Just go outside or something!" He tried to get Seijuro to go outside, but the minute he touched the redhead's shoulder, the boy frowned.

"Please don't," he whined.

There were a lot of ways to describe Seijuro's voice, but never did Shuuzo imagine that 'weak as fuck' would be one of them. He sounded so fragile, as if the sun was slowly killing him. And he's resorted to whining now. He must be really desperate.

"Oh come on," Shuuzo said. "Going outside is not the end of the world. Just for half an hour." He saw the colour drain from Seijuro's face. Apparently half an hour was out of the question.

"Oi, Seijuro, come here for a second."

Seijuro was dragged away by Daiki before he found himself in the middle of what seemed to be a secret meeting.

"There has to be a way for us to get him to let us stay inside," he whispered, careful to make sure Shuuzo wouldn't hear.

"I don't think so," said Taiga. "He doesn't look like he'd give up easily. We need to find his weakness…"

"That's it! He does have a weakness. Seijuro. Tetsu. You have to convince him."

Seijuro and Tetsuya exchanged looks.

"Us?" said Seijuro.

"Yeah. You know that Shuuzo never says no to you guys when you do 'you know what'."

The implications of what he was saying now became clear to Seijuro and Tetsuya. They needed to hit Shuuzo's weak points again and that meant stooping low. But it was worth it. Seijuro and Tetsuya nodded.

"Understood," said Tetsuya. "Now then, it's time to go, Seijuro-kun."

As Shuuzo took a look out the window, he was admiring how nice the weather was. He didn't know how they became so accustomed to the inside, it was beautiful out there. They probably wouldn't even agree to open this window either. His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a tug at his sleeve. He turned around.

"What is it this ti—"

He paused mid-sentence when he looked down and saw Tetsuya and Seijuro gazing up at him with their eyebrows furrowed and lower lips pushed out. Shuuzo heard himself internally screaming. They were pouting. Goddammit they were being cute again.

"Please can we stay inside~?" they both said, clasping their hands together as they pleaded with their older cousin. Shuuzo felt his eye twitch.

"Don't…do that" he said weakly. He couldn't do it. He couldn't assert his authority. Not while they looked like that. Not while they were staring into his soul with those big innocent-looking eyes of theirs. He wanted to look the other direction, but if he does that, he loses.

"You guys should really go outside…" he said, trying once again to make his point clear.

"You should stay inside with us," Tetsuya said adamantly, making his best efforts to sound like a petulant child.

"Yes, you should," Seijuro agreed. "Don't be shy, Shuu-chan."

Shuuzo visibly flinched. Not the nickname too. His willpower to maintain authority was mostly gone, since they kept pleading with him so innocently.

Everyone watched from the sidelines.

"Woahhh, they're really good at this," Kotarou said in awe. "They should be pros. Right, Eikichi?"

"Oi, isn't it a bad idea to let Reo watch this?"

Kotarou jolted.

"Oh crap! We forgot! Reo-nee, don't look or you'll die from cuteness!"

They both turned to him and gasped. It was too late for Reo, since he had been watching the whole time.

"Shit Reo! He's already bleeding out!"

"Somebody shove tissues into his nose or something! He's dying!"

While they tried to stop Reo's nosebleed from staining the carpet too much, Shuuzo was almost ready to give in. Tetsuya and Seijuro had him cornered. There was only one thing left to do. They both grabbed one of his hands each and stared up at him with pleading puppy-dog eyes.

"Pretty please, Shuu-chan?"

Seijuro and Tetsuya used Cute Charm. It was super effective!

As soon as Reo heard that he collapsed in a heap on the floor and Shuuzo looked about ready to do the same. He looked more flustered than ever about what to do, since he can't handle this much cute in one day, so he sighed shakily in defeat and looked in the other direction.

"Fine, you can stay inside."

Seijuro and Tetsuya immediately dropped the act and high-fived.

"Victory is ours, Seijuro-kun."

"Indeed it is, Tetsuya."

"You're both deceptive little bastards, aren't you?"

"Can you guys not celebrate your victory right now?" Kotarou called from next to the couch. Shintarou nodded.

"We have another situation at hand, Seijuro. Your brother is dying, nodayo."

"Not again…"

He padded over to his comatose brother who was still recoiling from the adorableness he witnessed just mere moments ago.

"We probably should've warned him first."

"Seijuro, he favourites you the most, say something cute to bring him back."

While that was a good plan, he might make it worse, but it was worth a shot. He tried shaking his nearly unconscious brother.

"Reo-nii-san, please don't die."

"I can't…it's too late…"

"But if you're gone, then I'll really miss you."

He immediately shot up in place as if he had just been resurrected from the dead.

"On second thought the cold inevitable grip of death can wait for a minute. Sei-chan that was so cuuuute! I can't believe you'd miss me!"

He totally would, to be honest.

By that time Reo started glowing so much that everyone was blinded.

"Shit, he's too bright!"

"Quick, somebody switch him off my eyes are burning!"

"Seijuro, say something else!"

Seijuro thought for a moment before looking down at his glowing brother.

"Reo-nii-san…I hate you."

Reo immediately stopped glowing and went back to his original comatose state passed out on the floor.

"O-Oi…I think you might have been too harsh."

"I think he stopped breathing."

"Hey Shintarou, you want to be a doctor, so help us with your medical skills."

"There's nothing I can do, nanodayo. He's too far gone."

 _There is no way my cousins are this idiotic,_ Shuuzo thought, standing by the window as they tried to fix Reo. _I honestly couldn't have picked a worse day to come. In that case…_

"I think I'll just take my leave," he said, making his way to the door.

"Ehhh, Shuuzocchi is leaving already?" Ryouta said. "You should stay and watch with us!"

"I don't want to be infected, thank you. And I just realized my room could use some tidying up anyway. Later."

"But—"

Shuuzo literally did not want to spend another second in that house so as soon as he heard 'But', his own butt was out the door. The door slammed shut and left the thirteen of them in the darkness, wondering why he was running so fast.

~O~

They were crazy. They had literally lost their minds. That was the only thing Shuuzo was positive of.

He had only been back at his campus for an hour before getting a barrage of voicemails from his cousins. Now, he would have been inclined to listen to the voicemails, had they not been all of his cousins hissing in unison "JOIN USSSSSSSS" like they were doing some type of satanic ritual, but it was, and he refused to have anything to do with this weird show they were so obsessed with. But his then his phone kept on chiming again…and again…and again…and again…

…

After two hours had gone by, Shuuzo burst through the door of their house again, radiating annoyance. Reo looked up.

"Ah, Shuuzo! You finally came back."

"EIGHTY-TWO MESSAGES IN THE SPAN OF FIFTY-THREE MINUTES. STOP BLOWING UP MY PHONE!"

"So you're gonna watch with us?"

"Hell no! I just came to tell you directly to stop sending me voicemails. You're overheating my phone."

"C'mon, just watch for a little bit! I bet you'll love it."

"NO WAY."

Reo narrowed his eyes.

"Mm. I thought you'd say that. Sei-chan, Tetsu-chan, would you mind helping our guest…get comfortable?"

"Wha—"

Before he knew what was happening, the two of them were already behind him and used the blankets they were holding as some type of rope, wrapping them tightly around Shuuzo's body and trapping his arms at his sides. With that, they pushed him towards the couch and sat him down. Once they sat him down, they both took their seats on either of his legs to prevent him from moving. He growled under his breath.

"Why the hell are you making me watch with you?"

"Because," said Seijuro. "You are the only person in the family we have yet to convert, Shuuzo-san."

"That doesn't mean you have to—"

"Shhh. The episode's starting. There are thirteen episodes in season one. If we want to get you up to speed by tomorrow like the rest of us, then we'll have to do this until…" Seijuro checked his watch. "Five o'clock in the morning."

"FIVE O'CLOCK?!"

"Yes. I hope you don't mind Shuuzo-san."

"Of course I mind!"

"Really? You don't? That's fine then."

"Don't ignore me! Oi! SEIJURO!"

…

Thirteen hours later, the concluding episode to season one began to play its end credits. Snack wrappers and tissues were all over the floor. Ice cream containers were left empty and abandoned on the table along with several spoons. It was nearly quarter past five in the morning and Shuuzo blinked as the credits played on. It was a miracle, but he managed to stay awake through the whole thing. Since he lived a uni life, he gained the ability to stay up to the early hours of the morning in order to do work or studying, so staying awake for a TV marathon was a piece of cake. Unfortunately, since everyone else was not in uni, they had not yet acquired this skill, to this extent at least, which was how everyone ended up passed out except him. Maybe it was due to fatigue, or, judging from Taiga and Daiki sleeping in a pile of potato chip bags and Atsushi's face in an ice cream container, they might have just eaten themselves into a food coma. Seijuro and Tetsuya were keen on making sure that Shuuzo wouldn't try and escape, so they remained seated on him, but eventually they too gave in and fell asleep…and so did his legs. Shuuzo could barely move the lower half of his body. As he worked his arms out of the loosening blankets to stretch himself out a bit, he wondered relatively if this was what Santa Claus would feel like. You know, considering the fact that two kids were basically sitting in his lap right now. Well, never mind all that. Now that he finished the thing, he was tired, and so with a large yawn, his head fell back onto the couch, and his eyes slowly closed, allowing the sound of infomercials lull him to sleep.

~O~

Everyone woke up the next morning with a slow start. Their eyes had dark circles, they slept in awkward positions, there were tissues everywhere and the TV was still on. The people who slept on the floor awoke and stood up, various cracking sounds being emitted as they stretched out their joints.

"Ugh," Daiki moaned. "I feel like I just slept on a rock. And Satsuki, don't use me as a pillow next time! You radiate too much heat!"

"Ehhh? But you hogged all the pillows so I had to use something…"

"Atsushi, if you keep your face in the ice cream you'll drown in vanilla."

"Mmmm…then so be it."

Seijuro and Tetsuya finally stir from the couch and blink away their drowsiness.

"Good morning Seijuro-kun."

"Good morning Tetsuya…wait…morning?" He eyed the clock on the wall which read 8:27 a.m. The two looked down at Shuuzo and their eyes widened when they saw him asleep as well. Seijuro and Tetsuya began to shake him.

"Shuuzo-san, Shuuzo-san wake up."

Shuuzo slowly opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings. Seijuro and Tetsuya were still sitting on him, and they were staring at his face to catch any signs of movement. He blinked.

"Ah? What is it?" he grumbled. "If you have no reason to wake me up then let me sleep."

"Shuuzo-san, don't tell me you fell asleep during the marathon."

"Hmm? No. I fell asleep after."

"After…?"

"Yeah."

"So," Tetsuya began. "You watched it all?"

"Yeah."

Just like that, the whole family surrounded him, eyeing him in expectancy.

"So? How was it?" they all asked. Shuuzo paused for a few seconds while everyone held their breath waiting for his answer. He shrugged.

"I guess I liked it."

Thirteen different victory cries were heard as half of them began dancing in celebration. The other half were giving each other smirks, saying things like "I told you so", because they were so confident that Shuuzo would enjoy the soap opera that was ' _Mi Amor_ '. For the next hour or so, the thirteen of them sat earnestly in the living room, gossiping about the events of season one and how they'd move onto season two later on when they've finished breakfast. But, as they revelled in their victory, Shuuzo shook his head in amusement. The truth was, he didn't even like the soap opera. Not the slightest bit. He thought the plot was too cheesy and predictable, and the characters bored him to death. But, when he saw the way his cousins' faces lit up as they talked about their beloved series, and the way their hands moved around in the form of excited gestures, it made him laugh. So he'd pretend to like it, but just to make them happy. He sighed.

 _My family_ , he thought. _They're all such weirdoes_.

* * *

 **Oh my God I can't believe I wrote this. And y'all can't tell me that Akashi can't have Emperor Eye cuz Oreshi used it perfectly fine. I just felt it was necessary. Thank you for being patient with me. And I hope to upload very soon. Until then, you know what to do...**

 **Read and review please!**


	25. Do you remember?

**WOW IT'S BEEN OVER A MONTH AND A HALF HELLO.**

 **Sorry, I literally had no time at all to write, I'm in the middle of exams hahahahaha kill me. Anyway, I decided to take a break for a little bit before I go back to revision by finishing this chapter that I've had on standby for God knows how long.**

 **To** **xXTheLeaderOfTheInsanestClanXx: FINALLY I GOT TO YOUR CHAPTER SO I HOPE IT MAKES YOU HAPPY.**

 **And fair warning, I'm not explaining basketball games in detail so forgive me please!**

 **Now, without further ado...**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Do you remember?

It was a regular day at school, Seijuro had just finished with basketball practice, and he was with his teammates in the gymnasium as they finished up for the day. Finally clearing away all the balls and making sure the floor was properly cleaned, the coach gathered them around one more time before they were dismissed for the day.

"Alright, good work today," Coach Shirogane said. "Continue playing like this and I'll have no complaints during the championship tournament. Make sure you all are here for the extra practice session after school next Tuesday. That is all."

The members of Seijuro's team began to disperse, some of them making their way to the locker room, others making their way straight out of the gymnasium to the outside. Seijuro was one of the people who went into the locker rooms so he could get his things and then make his way home. While he was in there, some of his teammates were chattering with each other.

"Some practice, huh?" one boy said.

"I hear ya," another one replied. "I'm pretty sure that training menu was made by Satan himself."

"Well, it was made by the coach, and he's probably as close to Satan as it gets."

A few boys snickered as the conversation continued on.

"It's to be expected, though," Seijuro said, coming into the conversation. "This year's basketball tournaments are going to have some fierce competition."

"Heh, hopefully not as many surprises as last year's at least."

"Ah…yeah…"

"Um…what happened last year?" one of the first years asked. Seijuro and the other two looked at him, along with the other first years who overheard and wondered what they were talking about. The corners of Seijuro's mouth twitched upward.

"That's right, you guys hadn't started last year." He turned to the rest of his teammates. "Perhaps it was finally time we told them, yes?" The others nodded.

"Yeah, they've been here long enough. You should tell them, Seijuro. You're better at telling it."

"You think so? Then, I'll be happy to recall the tale." The team members took their seats as Seijuro stood, clearing his throat.

"It happened last year, around the time of the nationals…"

—

 _"_ _Alright. Is everyone ready?"_

 _"_ _Yes, sir!"_

 _Rakuzan was in their locker room, prepping for the upcoming game. At the time, Seijuro was amongst the first years in the group, so this would be his first official middle school tournament. But he wasn't in it alone. Amongst the group was also the Three Uncrowned Kings, who at the time, were in their third year of middle school. Chihiro was the only one amongst the five brothers who started high school. As their coach, Shirogane Eiji was finished speaking, everyone began to get their things, making sure their water bottles were filled up, their shoes were tied and they were mentally prepared for the oncoming entourage of games. As they got their things together, Kotarou came up behind him._

 _"_ _Ne, Sei! Are you ready to go?" Seijuro jolted at the proximity of his brother's loud voice._

 _"_ _What are you talking about? Of course, Sei-chan's ready," Reo said, appearing next to the redhead. His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden belch that came from his immediate right, making his scrunch his face in disgust._

 _"_ _Eikichi, stop that! It's gross."_

 _"_ _What? I ate a lot before the match. Not my fault." His large frame was the one that appeared last, in the middle of his two brothers._

 _"_ _So, this is your first tournament of middle school, chibi. You nervous?" Seijuro blinked as he stared up at the three._

 _"_ _I don't really think I'm that nervous, actually," he answered. "I'm just interested to see what kind of players we'll be put against." Eikichi let out a short chuckle._

 _"_ _Heh. So we didn't really need to pep-talk him after all. He's definitely fine."_

 _"_ _Well, that's Sei-chan for you!"_

 _"_ _Sei's never nervous!"_

 _"_ _Well, either way, these first few matches should be nothing."_

 _"_ _It's not good to underestimate the opponent."_

 _"_ _I-I KNOW THAT CHIBI!"_

 _"_ _Eikichi, you're too loud."_

 _"_ _Anyway, let's get on the court so we can see the people we're facing!"_

 _The four exit the changing room, along with the rest of their team, and they lead at the front as they chat away. While that went on, a few team members stayed at the back of the group as they eyed the four suspiciously._

 _"_ _Hey," one of them said to the other two. "Don't you think it's kinda weird?"_

 _"_ _What's kinda weird?" one of the other two said._

 _"_ _I think it's kinda weird that those four are always together. Haven't you noticed that?" The third boy stared ahead at Seijuro, Reo, Kotarou and Eikichi, who were still in the middle of a conversation._

 _"_ _Yeah. It's really weird the way they're grouped together," he said. "Not just the three third years, but so far they've been really friendly with that first year, what was his name again…Akashi Sei something or other."_ **(A/N: I've been deliberately avoiding this topic for too long so I'll make it that they keep their last names.)**

 _"_ _Akashi Seijuro is his name. I don't know why he's such good friends with Mibuchi-senpai and the others. Do they live in the same neighbourhood or something?"_

 _"_ _I don't know. But there's definitely something fishy about it. They're even on first name basis with him. Not to mention that they all call him by a nickname. The hell is 'Sei-chan'?"_

 _"_ _And Hayama-senpai calls him 'Sei', I think."_

 _"_ _I even heard Nebuya-senpai call him 'Chibi' just now. If any other person on the team did that, they'd get killed for sure."_

 _They stared ahead at the four as they entered the court._

 _"_ _They're so weird," they said in unison._

 _After a few minutes of warming up after the other team arrived, the starters finally went to line up as the referee got the ball._

 _"_ _The game will now start. Bow!"_

 _"_ _Let's have a good game!"_

 _…_

 _Despite the fact that they did not underestimate their opponents, their first matches, as expected, were relatively easy for Rakuzan. This was no surprise. The schools they challenged at first were nothing more than just, putting it bluntly, weaker schools. Obscure schools with unknown names that had unmemorable faces with average talent. Nothing out of the ordinary with completely orthodox play styles. Obviously with Rakuzan's unique players, this posed no problem for them, and they played through team after team, getting one hundred point games every time. Half of the team usually finished the game without breaking a sweat._

 _During this time, it was the first and only year Seijuro would play with his brothers in a team. After this year's tournaments, his brothers would retire, and they would graduate middle school. That being said, it was only natural for Seijuro to make his one year as successful as possible with the team he was just getting to know. So he was always on his game, always making his shots, and, of course, always making the perfect passes. It wasn't unusual that Seijuro was a scary basketball player, but he was absolutely perfect as a Point Guard. And the team acknowledged this of course, especially his brothers._

 _"_ _Sei-chan that shot you just made was so cool!" Reo said as the redhead returned from the basket. Seijuro turned around and gave him a small smile._

 _"_ _Thank you," he said warmly. "But your shots are more amazing than mine, aren't they? They're very beautiful to watch." Reo squealed as he threw his arms around his younger brother._

 _"_ _Kyaaaa~! Sei-chan you're too kind!"_

 _"_ _I can't breathe."_

 _Eikichi comes up from behind._

 _"_ _Reo, we're in the middle of a game."_

 _"_ _Yeah," said Kotarou as he caught up to the group. "And if you keep hugging Sei like that, he won't last until the end."_

 _"_ _Aww."_

 _He reluctantly let go of the small Point Guard and they went back into defence positions as the opposing team took possession of the ball. Meanwhile, the others on the bench watched their display with confusion._

 _"_ _What…was that?" one of the benchwarmers said, looking all too confused at the situation._

 _"_ _I can't believe Mibuchi-senpai just touched him, and he didn't even get yelled at."_

 _"_ _Forget touch, that was a straight up hug. What the hell, is that even allowed?"_

 _"_ _This bothers me. Their relationship is too confusing."_

 _Their coach took his eyes off the game for a quick second to glance at the players on the bench who were just talking. I should probably tell them, he thought. He was about to say something, but after a moment's consideration, he sighed and shrugged lightly. Never mind. I'll just let their minds wander…_

~O~

"So what happened then?" a first-year asked. Seijuro looked off into the distance as he recalled the memory.

"Well, it was bad enough that the entire team was confused, but it got even worse after we won the nationals."

—

 _After Rakuzan won the Nationals, they finally began to mix with the other prefectures. When they start out, they'll be playing the Tokyo prefecture for sure. Seijuro was looking forward to it the most out of everyone in the team. However, only his brothers knew the reason why. In the Tokyo prefecture was Seirin, Shuutoku, and Touou. That meant that if those schools win and get through, he'd get to see his cousins._

 _The bus ride to Tokyo was full of conversation. Seijuro and his other teammates were talking about the new challenge that awaited them there, but mostly, Seijuro talked with the Three Uncrowned Kings, as they were just as excited as Seijuro was about playing against schools in the Tokyo district._

 _"_ _Ne, Sei, we're almost to the stadium!"_

 _"_ _Are we?"_

 _Seijuro was sitting in near the back when Kotarou, who sat behind him, tapped him on the shoulder._

 _"_ _You first years ready?" Eikichi asked the group of middle schoolers sitting around Seijuro. They nodded._

 _"_ _The line-ups in other schools are going to be strong this year," one of them said. "Some schools got their hands on some the Generation of Miracles."_

 _"_ _Well, we've got our own, don't we?" said another first year. "There's Akashi and then there are Hayama-senpai, Nebuya-senpai, and Mibuchi-senpai who are really strong. And the rest of the team is really strong too. We don't have anything to worry about in terms of skill or strength."_

 _"_ _Aw you guys are too kind!" said Reo, relishing in the compliment. "And I'm sure the competitions between our schools will surely be interesting to say the least, right Sei-chan?" Seijuro grinned as he looked out the window._

 _"_ _But of course," he replied. "Starting from now, these matches will be nothing short of a bloodbath. It'd be a shame if our own team didn't give them a proper greeting on the court."_

 _"_ _Hey Akashi," another first year asked. "Have you ever gone up against the other Generation of Miracles before?"_

 _"_ _Well," Seijuro said, looking over at his three brothers. "I think it's safe to say that I'm well acquainted with their basketball skills."_

 _"_ _What? Since when did you play them?"_

 _"_ _Actually I—"_

 _"_ _Everyone, we're at the stadium."_

 _The whole bus looked up at the coach who just announced their arrival. Looking outside, they all saw the enormous structure that was before them. A formidable fortress to say the least, with its dome-like structure and modern architecture. When they stepped out of the bus, Seijuro took a look at the place. He was intrigued._

 _"_ _Pretty cool, right Sei?" Kotarou said as he jumped off the last step on the bus. "I think the stadium's awesome!" Seijuro was still busy taking in the scenery around him._

 _"_ _So you all have come here before, right?"_

 _"_ _Yep! Since we won Nationals the past two years in a row, we always get to travel to Tokyo to play in the championship."_

 _"_ _That's amazing."_

 _Just behind them, they heard the sound of an engine, which caused the both of them to turn around. Reo and Eikichi, who were just stepping out onto the pavement, saw them turn around and wondered what was going on._

 _"_ _Sei-chan, what are you and Kotarou looking at?" Seijuro smiled._

 _"_ _It seems like another team has arrived."_

 _Following the other two, Reo and Eikichi turn around and spot a bus parking behind their own. Looking into the windows of said bus to see what team it is, they both raised their eyebrows in surprise._

 _"_ _Hmm? It's Seirin."_

 _"_ _Seirin?"_

 _Eikichi was right. In the bus was Seirin's basketball team. Bearing their basketball uniform of white, red and black, Seirin was getting their things out of the bus. The four of them stood and stared as the rest of their own team stepped off the bus._

 _"_ _Oi, look. It's Kiyoshi."_

 _"_ _Ohhh! It really is Te-chan! Junpei-chan is there too!"_

 _Looking into the bus, Seijuro and Kotarou did see who they were talking about. At the front, there was Kiyoshi Teppei, the Centre, and Hyuuga Junpei, the captain, and clutch shooter. Hyuuga was talking to the others about something. Most likely telling everyone not to forget anything. Seijuro had to really peer into the bus to see who he was looking for. After a few seconds, he finally spotted them. Standing near the back of the bus, was Taiga and Tetsuya, the new additions to Seirin's middle school team, and their trump card as well. Seijuro didn't know how much their new team could utilize their skills, but at the moment, he was just looking forward to seeing them play. Unfortunately, because of the bracket their school is in, they won't actually be able to play against them, but he will have a match with Touou and Shuutoku, and that's more than good enough for him._

 _"_ _Oi chibi quit staring, the team is going inside!"_

 _Seijuro turned around and saw his teammates moving towards the entrance and Eikichi beckoning him over._

 _"_ _Sorry, I'm coming."_

 _With that, he picked up into a run and went to go and catch up with the rest of them._

 _In the Seirin bus, Tetsuya and Taiga looked out the window and saw a tuft of red hair just going through the stadium entrance. Taiga nudged the teal-haired boy and pointed towards the stadium entrance where he saw it._

 _"_ _Hey, Tetsuya, do you see that?"_

 _Tetsuya looked towards the area where the red tuft just disappeared behind the door. He smiled._

 _"_ _It seems they got here before us."_

 _"_ _Oi, you two, quit your gawking and come off the bus before I hit you!"_

 _The duo tensed up as they ran to the front._

 _"_ _Coming, captain!"_

~O~

 _Once the team got inside, they prepped for the game they had first. The first match that they had was against Touou, which means that, more importantly, they'd be up against Daiki and Satsuki. Formidable opponents to say the least. With Daiki's limitless potential and Satsuki's data analysing skills, it would be a tough match. Seijuro wasn't worried, though. He knew it would all be over if he let anxiety get to him, so he replaced it with excitement. Not enough that anyone would notice, though. He's not one to openly show excitement; that area was better left to Kotarou. His thoughts were interrupted when his phone vibrated. Fishing the device out of his pocket and unlocking the screen, he opened his inbox to find a message from Tetsuya._

 _'_ _I saw you out front.'_

 _Seijuro chuckled softly at the short message. He typed a response back._

 _'_ _I saw you as well. Have you seen anyone else since getting off the bus?'_

 _Another vibration._

 _'_ _Kaijo and Yosen arrived shortly after our bus. I ran into Ryouta-kun and Atsushi-kun in the hallway. They also said that they saw the other four outside the stadium.'_

 _'_ _Perfect. What do you say we have a family meeting? Is fifteen minute's time good for you?'_

 _'_ _Yes. I will notify the others. See you in fifteen minutes.'_

 _Seijuro locked his phone and put it back into his pocket. After ten minutes had gone by, he stood up from the bench in the locker room and walked up to the coach._

 _"_ _I am going to meet someone for a little bit." The coach looked away from his clipboard and locked eyes with the redhead._

 _"_ _That's fine, but make sure you're back before we head out. We should be leaving in thirty minutes."_

 _"_ _Yes, coach."_

 _As he made his way towards the door, he was stopped by his brothers._

 _"_ _Ara Sei-chan, are you going out?" Seijuro stopped with his grip on the door handle and turned to face Reo._

 _"_ _Yes," he said. "I wanted to meet with the others before we start our own game."_

 _"_ _Ehhh? So they've all finally come?" said Kotarou. "That's awesome!"_

 _"_ _Go on then," said Eikichi. "You don't wanna keep 'em waiting."_

 _"_ _Sei-chan say hi to them for me!"_

 _"_ _I'll be sure to do so. I'll see you all before we start."_

 _He twisted the door handle and left the locker room, making his way towards the exit of the stadium._

 _Back in the locker room, a couple people who overheard what Seijuro was saying began to talk amongst themselves._

 _"_ _Where did Akashi just go to?"_

 _"_ _I think he just went to go and meet a few people before our match started."_

 _"_ _What people?"_

 _"_ _I dunno, but apparently the other three senpai know them."_

 _"_ _Who could they possibly be?"_

 _The gossiping group stared at the door in which Seijuro left._

 _"_ _I don't understand this situation…"_

~O~

 _After Seijuro came back, they had ten minutes before their team was meant to head out onto the court. When interrogated by his brothers, he revealed that the meeting went well. Everyone actually showed up, including the rebellious ones such as Daiki and Shōgo, or someone who would be less bothered like Atsushi, so that was pretty surprising. They didn't talk about much else except basketball and the matches ahead. As usual, Taiga was practically on fire, burning with excitement. The same could also be said for Daiki since he felt exactly the same about basketball; Satsuki and Tetsuya were just smiling at their enthusiasm. Shintarou said something about destroying everybody since Cancer ranked first in Oha Asa today or something like that, and Ryouta was just excited to play._

 _By the time he had finished discussing the meeting, it was already time to leave. So Seijuro, along with the rest of his team, exited the locker rooms to go out to the court and warm up. They were going straight into a game with Touou, so he would be going against Daiki today._

 _Touou came in soon after their team and began to practice their shooting. As Seijuro was practicing shooting from the free throw line, he turned around after retrieving his ball to spot a tuft of blue hair along with a flowing mass of pink. He walked over to greet the familiar faces he knew so well._

 _"_ _It's about time you arrived, Daiki. What took you so long?"_

 _"_ _It's all his fault," Satsuki complained. "He was busy staring at some big-chested woman."_

 _"_ _Leave me alone Satsuki," Daiki muttered. "Can't a man stare? Anyway, you better be prepared Seijuro. I'm gonna win this one!"_

 _"_ _Is that so? I don't recall you ever winning against me."_

 _"_ _Sh-Shut up! I'll win this time!"_

 _"_ _Heh. I accept your challenge."_

 _Meanwhile, the other teams were watching this conversation going down and were blatantly confused._

 _"_ _Umm, do they know each other?" a Touou first year asked his brown-haired teammate. He jolted at the question._

 _"_ _I'm sorry, I don't know," the boy replied._

 _"_ _Oh, never mind then."_

 _"_ _I'm sorry, I'm so useless."_

 _"_ _No really, it's okay."_

 _"_ _I'M REALLY SORRY!"_

 _"_ _OKAY SAKURAI I GET IT. QUIT APOLOGIZING."_

 _"_ _Why is Akashi talking to that monster over there?" a first year from Rakuzan asked. Some of the team looked over._

 _"_ _Isn't that Aomine Daiki? How does he know him?"_

 _"_ _And who's the girl? She's pretty cute."_

 _"_ _This is some serious insanity…"_

 _"_ _Satsuki-chan! Dai-chan! How are you two doing?"_

 _The entire of the Rakuzan's basketball team's mouths collectively flew open as Reo, Kotarou and Eikichi went over to join the conversation._

 _"_ _THEM TOO?!"_

 _"_ _Kotarou-san, Eikichi-san, Reo-san, hello~!"_

 _"_ _Sup."_

 _The others on Touou were watching as well._

 _"_ _I wonder how Aomine and Momoi know those two."_

 _"_ _Maybe they were childhood friends?"_

 _"_ _Maybe so…"_

 _"_ _And I thought he only let Momoi call him 'Dai-chan'."_

 _"_ _So did I. Isn't he gonna say anything about it?"_

 _"_ _I don't think he will…"_

 _"_ _This is really fishy."_

 _…_

 _When the warm-ups were finished, it was time to begin the game. Both teams lined up and bowed, taking their positions on the court, the ball was thrown up and the game started. This game was relatively amusing. During the first half, When Daiki had the ball, Rakuzan had a bit of difficulty keeping up with his speed. On the bench, when he drove past defenders, all he looked like was a blue blur. It put a strain on people's eyes trying to catch his moving image across the court. Seijuro was able to keep up with him, however. When Daiki reached him, he was unable to shake him off, since Seijuro was watching his every movement. He stopped in his tracks and held the ball away, pondering how to make his next move._

 _"_ _Eh? Aomine stopped." One of the benchwarmers said. "What's up with that?" Satsuki remained silent. As much data as she had on Seijuro, it was like he had just as much on Daiki. He may not have the same job description as a manager such as Satsuki, but they were exactly the same. They were analysers. They read information, narrowed down the results and predicted an outcome. It was something the redhead was exceptionally skilled at. Which is why he was always suited for coming up with great strategies. So even though Satsuki can predict his movements, he can do exactly the same for the opposing team. Even then, he was forever changing his style. Just like Daiki, he could be a complete anomaly. She watched as Daiki grinned to himself._

 _"_ _You up for a bit of one-on-one, Seijuro?" Seijuro smirked._

 _"_ _Come at me."_

 _Daiki faked left and crossed to the right. He attempted to drive past but before he could even bounce the ball, Seijuro had smacked it out of his hand and has already dribbling it down the court. Daiki had managed to catch up to him with his incredible speeds, but when he tried to defend, Seijuro decelerated and faked a pass to the left. Daiki took his eyes off of Seijuro for one second and he was already in shooting position. He reached his hands up to block, but he was a fraction of a second too late, and the ball swished through the net._

 _The crowd cheered as Rakuzan's score went up by two, Daiki staring back at Seijuro._

 _"_ _Heh. Not bad. But did you have to use that fake?"_

 _"_ _It's not my fault you always fall for it."_

 _"_ _Because it happens so fast that I can never react quickly enough! Have some mercy on me!"_

 _"_ _Nonsense, Daiki."_

 _As the two went back to their positions, Touou looked long and hard at Seijuro._

 _…_ _What did he mean by always?_

 _…_

 _In the end, the game ended with 74-78, Rakuzan in the lead by four points. It was a bittersweet match since the crowd was equally cheering for both teams, but Daiki was well aware that even though he gave his all into this match, Seijuro and his team would most likely win. After all, he's never won against him before. As the two teams bowed towards each other, Seijuro and Daiki face each other once more._

 _"_ _Heh. You beat me again, Seijuro. As usual, I can never win against you." Seijuro laughed in response._

 _"_ _Is that so? Well, it's important that you tried. It was a close match, Daiki." He held out his hand to the blue-haired teenager, and Daiki took a moment to look down at it before hesitantly taking it, shaking it as he sighed._

 _"_ _Well, we should probably go, we have another game coming up soon."_

 _"_ _We'll be watching."_

 _They separated and Satsuki waved to Seijuro one more time._

 _"_ _Bye Sei-kun! We'll see you all later!"_

 _"_ _Yeah, later."_

~O~

 _If the first game wasn't confusing enough for both teams, it was even more confusing for every other team which had a miracle on their side. When Rakuzan's games were done for the day, they spectated games instead, one of those games was Seirin versus Kaijo. They all sat in their seats in the audience._

 _"_ _So, Kaijo and Seirin, eh?" said a first year. "Are there any good players?" Seijuro nodded._

 _"_ _They both have their fair share of good players."_

 _Seirin was just coming onto the court, getting ready to practice some shooting drills. Someone threw Tetsuya a ball and he immediately passed it upwards, where Kagami took a running leap, caught it, and dunked it into the basket. Seijuro smirked as he watched._

 _"_ _Very good players indeed…" One of the first years looked down._

 _"_ _What was with that dunk? That's not normal for a first-year. Not to mention that pass too."_

 _"_ _Kagami Taiga and Kuroko Tetsuya are far from normal," said Seijuro "They're as—"_

 _"_ _Oiiii! Tetsuyacchi! Taigacchi! Heeeey!"_

 _Seijuro looked back down on the court as he sweat-dropped._

 _"_ _Speaking of far from normal…"_

 _…_

 _Tetsuya felt the wind knocked out of him as Ryouta rammed into him from the side. Soon enough, both of them were on the floor._

 _"_ _Oi Tetsuya!" Taiga shouted. "Ryouta what the hell are you doing?!"_

 _"_ _What? I can't come say hi anymore?" he pouted. "You're so mean Taigacchi."_

 _"_ _Not that you idiot, you're killing him!"_

 _"_ _Eh?"_

 _"_ _I…I can't breathe Ryouta-kun," Tetsuya gasped from the floor. Ryouta scrambled off of him and sat cross-legged._

 _"_ _Sorry Tetsuyacchi! I was really excited-ssu!"_

 _Over near the commotion, Hyuuga and Izuki were staring at the three._

 _"_ _What the hell are those morons doing over there?" Hyuuga grumbled. "They should get to warming up before I hit both of them." Izuki laughed._

 _"_ _Now, now, Hyuuga," he said smoothly "Let them have their fun. In fact, who are they talking to? Do they know him?" Hyuuga looked closer at the over-friendly blonde._

 _"_ _Isn't that Kise Ryouta? That famous model that I heard some underclassmen talking about the other day? I heard he's really strong."_

 _"_ _Wow, a good at basketball and he's a model? He must be a bit of a player."_

 _"_ _Izuki shut up."_

 _Ryouta and Tetsuya finally stood up from the floor and dusted themselves off. Tetsuya stared directly into the copycat's eyes._

 _"_ _In any case, we won't be losing to you, Ryouta-kun," Ryouta smiled._

 _"_ _That's how it should be! Prepare yourselves-ssu!"_

 _…_

 _During the match, Taiga and Ryouta had several one-on-ones in both the first and second half. As usual, Taiga was able to keep up, but every time he pulled out a new move, Ryouta copied it and returned it just as well. It was a back and forth between them. It was when Taiga did a quick turnaround and went for the shot that Ryouta went and imitated him again. He felt a vein pop on his forehead._

 _"_ _Goddammit Ryouta, this is the fifth move you've copied! Cut it out already!"_

 _"_ _Hah? This is my specialty. What do you want me to do?"_

 _"_ _Stop doing it!"_

 _"_ _No way! I'll lose if I do that, Taigacchi."_

 _"_ _Then lose! I'm sick of you copying me!"_

 _The Rakuzan team who was watching them argue from the audience were shocked. What the hell were those two shouting about with neither team scoring a point and four minutes left in the third quarter?_

 _"_ _Uh," a first year began. "What are they doing? Shouldn't someone stop them?" Seijuro hummed in thought._

 _"_ _Don't worry, they'll be stopped soon enough. After all, Seirin does have a mediator on their team."_

 _"…_ _Huh?"_

 _Tetsuya came in between them and jabbed them both in the sides, causing them to yelp in surprise._

 _"_ _Please calm down," he said impassively. "I would like to finish this game."_

 _"_ _Tetsuya…"_

 _"_ _Tetsuyacchi…"_

 _Even though he was right, they were still kind of annoyed that he had to jab both of them, but either way, they both stopped and went back to their positions. Kaijo was confused._

 _"_ _What is going on?" said Nakamura._

 _"_ _Hey!" Hayakawa shouted. "If y(ou) keep arg(u)ing I ca(n't) get (re)bounds!"_

 _Nakamura continued to stare at them._

 _How are Kise and that guy from Seirin well acquainted enough to be on first name basis? And the way they stopped arguing just now was sudden. Did someone stop them? I don't even see anyone…_

 _He took one last look at them before going back to his position._

 _"_ _This is freaking crazy."_

 _…_

 _The winner of that game ended up being Seirin, Ryouta pouting slightly as he looked up at the scoreboard. 87 to 85. Hyuuga had managed to pull off a three-pointer at the last second. Damn him and his clutch shooting._

 _"_ _Ehhh? Taigacchi and Tetsuyacchi's team won? No fair…"_

 _"_ _It is so fair!" Taiga retorted. "You won the last game we played."_

 _"_ _Yeah but that wasn't an official game-ssu! It was just a streetball match."_

 _"_ _Well, we're even now. If you don't like it then come at us harder next time."_

 _Ryouta sighed. Well, he couldn't let this match get him down. He still has Shōgo's team to play._

 _"_ _Ryouta-kun…" Ryouta jolted as he realized Tetsuya was standing right in front of him. The middle school phantom was still staring up at him with those large blue eyes of his._

 _"_ _Let's play again sometime," Ryouta smiled._

 _"_ _You bet!"_

~O~

 _The rest of the matches were a blur, it all went by so fast that Seijuro could barely keep up. How it went down is that in the remaining matched they spectated, Touou and Kaijo won against Fukuda Sōgo, but Touou lost to Rakuzan and Kaijo to Seirin, of course. Seirin did win against Kaijo but lost to Yosen. Each spectated loss to the miracles was bittersweet since Seijuro never knew who he wanted to win. Keeping aside his own matches that he played with his team, there were a few honourable mentions that were worthy of remembering for years to come, simply because most of his cousins could easily turn an epic basketball match into a straight up comedy. One of those games specifically being Yosen versus Shuutoku. The Rakuzan team kept their eyes peeled as they watched._

 _"_ _Who do you think will win, Sei-chan?" Reo asked as rested his chin in the palm of his hand. Seijuro shrugged._

 _"_ _Who knows?" he said. "Theoretically speaking, Atsushi's absolute defence is a terrible match-up for Shintarou's high projectile threes, since Atsushi's defence can cover everything inside the three point line. However, if he were to take shots from half court, he might be able to shut down their defence."_

 _"_ _Hey Akashi," a teammate said. "How do you know so much about their offence and defence?"_

 _"_ _It's because I—"_

 _"_ _Ohhhh Sei! The game is starting!"_

 _Seijuro looked down to where Kotarou was excitedly pointing and saw that the game was ready to go under way. Everyone was in position as each of the two centres stood face to face, the referee holding the basketball in hand. Atsushi facing one of Shuutoku's Centres. Seijuro remembered watching Shuutoku last year when his brothers were playing and there was one amazing Centre they had on their team. The tall unstoppable Centre of Shuutoku, Otsubo Taisuke. Since he was a third year, however, after his last match last year, he graduated shortly after he retired. And so now, a new Centre had replaced him, to fill the large gap he had left. Fortunately, the one standing adjacent from Atsushi was just as tall. Unfortunately, however, he could not decide which team to root for, since he wants both of them to win. Although sadly, you cannot end basketball games with ties, that's why you go into overtime. So in the participation of this event, he remained neutral._

 _The referee blew the whistle and tossed the ball up in the air. Atsushi and Shuutoku's Centre jump for the ball and Atsushi gets the ball first, but the second his feet hit the ground, the whistle blew again. All the players stopped and stared at Atsushi._

 _"_ _Violation! Orange ball!"_

 _"_ _Arara, I've done it again…" said Atsushi._

 _"_ _Atsushi, you're supposed to wait until the ball reaches its highest point before you jump for it," said Himuro._

 _"_ _Sorry, Muro-chin."_

 _On Shuutoku's side, while they watched the referee call the violation, Takao whistled as he eyed Atsushi up and down._

 _"_ _He must be a pretty big guy to get violations like that, eh Shin-chan?" Shintarou sighed._

 _"_ _He never learns, nanodayo," he said, adjusting his glasses. "He gets this violation at least every other game." Takao blinked._

 _He's played him in other games…?_

 _…_

 _As expected of Seijuro, he was right. Atsushi's defence was a bad match up for Shintarou's threes, and as long as he stayed within the three point line, he could block them. Shintarou huffed in irritation._

 _"_ _You think this is all I can do?" he said after Atsushi had managed to tap the ball in one of his shots. "My shooting range is not that short, nanodayo."_

 _Takao dribbled the ball down the court and passed behind his back to Shintarou's waiting arms, where he caught it deftly and backed up to the half court line before Atsushi could even move from under the basket. By the time Atsushi had reacted, Shintarou had released the ball, and it made a high arc, the ball sinking through the hoop without even grazing the rim._

 _The crowd went wild as the score for Shuutoku went up by three. Atsushi was pouting, looking over at the basket Shintarou just shot into._

 _"_ _Shin-chin give me a break!" he grumbled loudly. Shintarou huffed in irritation for what seemed like the umptillionth time during that match._

 _"_ _How about you stop being lazy as always?"_

 _"_ _Ehhh? I'm not lazy, you're just stingy."_

 _"_ _What did you call me?!"_

 _Takao was laughing so hard he began clutching his stomach as he watched Shintarou and Atsushi go back and forth._

 _"_ _HAHAHAHAHAHAHA THIS IS AMAZING!" he hollered in between laughs. "Yelling at each other midgame, and this guy is calling you by a pet name. What are you guys, a married couple?!"_

 _"_ _TAKAOOOOOOOO!"_

 _Sei snorts, trying to conceal his light chuckling behind his hand. One of his other teammates looks at him in confusion._

 _"_ _What's so funny, Akashi?" Seijuro regained his composure._

 _"_ _Ah, it's nothing," he said, suppressing an amused smile. "I just thought it was so typical of those two to fight mid-game."_

 _"_ _What makes you think that?"_

 _"_ _It tends to happen a lot."_

 _His teammate furrowed his eyebrows as Seijuro's attention went back to the game. A lot? How many times has he played them? Just as he thought it couldn't get any weirder, he heard a voice from next to him._

 _"_ _So it seems Seijuro-kun was here after all."_

 _"_ _AAAAAHH!"_

 _Seijuro heard his teammate's scream and looked to his left as he offered a small smile._

 _"_ _Hello, Tetsuya."_

 _The teal haired boy was standing near them along with Taiga, giving a small wave in response._

 _"_ _You! Wh-When did you get here?" the teammate stammered. Tetsuya blinked._

 _"_ _Just now. Did I surprise you?"_

 _"_ _Don't pretend like you don't know it surprised him," said Taiga. "You always do this to people to see how badly you can scare them."_

 _"_ _Taiga-kun, I don't know what you're talking about."_

 _"_ _Oi!"_

 _Seijuro laughed. "Well, it's good of you to join us. Come sit down." He gestured to the two empty chairs on his right, and the two of them shrugged and went to sit down next to him. Looking behind them were sitting Reo, Kotarou, and Eikichi, and Tetsuya bowed politely as he acknowledged them._

 _"_ _Kotarou-san, Reo-san, Eikichi-san, it's nice to see you again."_

 _"_ _Hi, guys!"_

 _"_ _Sup?"_

 _"_ _Taiga-chan and Tetsu-chan! How are you doing?"_

 _"_ _Fine, thank you. But Taiga-kun is still angry about our loss against Yosen."_

 _"_ _I'm not angry, Tetsuya!"_

 _"_ _You clearly are," said Seijuro. "I did watch that game. It was unfortunate for you two, but you fought your hardest. You can pay them back next year, should you get the pleasure of being matched up with them again."_

 _"_ _Yeah…but still…"_

 _"_ _Well never mind that now, since you're here, let's just watch the rest of the game."_

 _"_ _Yeah alright."_

 _All of the Rakuzan team was so surprised._

 _First name basis. First name basis EVERYWHERE, they thought._

 _"_ _Oi, oi, isn't this getting a little strange?" one of them whispered._

 _"_ _Yeah," said a second year. "Where do they all know each other from? I thought maybe it was just Akashi who knew them, but the other senpai know them as well, well enough to use casual speech!"_

 _"_ _Just how exactly are they all familiar with one another?"_

 _Throughout the game, Tetsuya, Taiga, and Seijuro gave continuous commentary. It was more of Taiga complaining how ridiculous Shintarou's three-pointers are and how annoyingly wide Atsushi's range of defence was. Tetsuya and Seijuro just sighed, saying that they know he's bitter but he should really put the game behind him. Also, he was fuming pretty badly and the aggressive look on his face was starting to scare other people in the audience._

 _"_ _Who do you think will win this game, Seijuro-kun?" Tetsuya asked. Seijuro furrowed his brows in thought._

 _"_ _Hmm…it's quite a hard decision," he said after some time._

 _"_ _Why don't we place a bet on it then?" An eyebrow went up in question._

 _"_ _A bet?"_

 _"_ _Yes," said Tetsuya. "I'll place my bet on Atsushi-kun. If he wins, you have to buy me five vanilla milkshakes and Taiga-kun five burgers."_

 _"_ _Heh? How amusing. In that case, I'll place my bet on Shintarou. If he wins, the next time you come over to Kyoto, you have to make me tofu soup every single day you're there."_

 _"_ _It's a deal."_

 _As they shook on it, they were unaware of the entire Rakuzan team staring at them from their seats, wondering why on earth these people were chatting it up like best friends, and also wondering why this invisible boy has already visited Seijuro in Kyoto. But of course, their thoughts were interrupted again when they heard other voices._

 _"_ _Ah, Tetsuyacchi! Taigacchi and Seijurocchi are here too!"_

 _"_ _Dai-chan, look! It's Tetsu-kun!"_

 _"_ _I can see him, Satsuki."_

 _"_ _Why the hell have I been dragged up here though?"_

 _The three of them looked over at Ryouta, Daiki, Satsuki and Shōgo, all emerging from the steps and looking over at them. The Rakuzan team's faces went from confused to absolutely horrified as four other basketball prodigies came and sat down near the group of three. Not only that, but they all went and greeted Reo, Eikichi and Kotarou. It's bad enough that two of them were already acquainted with the majority of their starters, but all of them? The situation could not get any stranger. As they all sat down and talked as they continued to watch the game, they all began gossiping with each other about conspiracy theories about how they all became acquainted. One of the most popular theories came from a second year, who suggested that they all must have gone to a secret basketball camp for the super elite. That was the most realistic reason as to why they all call each other by first names, they are all acquainted with each other's talents, and they've visited each other outside of games. It was the only reason they could think of. So when the game finished with Shuutoku taking the win with a score of 98 to 95 and Seijuro was smirking in triumph, they were glaring at the rainbow group of kids from afar like vigilant animals, trying to figure out what kind of relationship they all had._

 _…_

 _With the two final contenders decided for the final, everyone awaited the Rakuzan versus Shuutoku match that was going to go under way the next day._

 _The day finally came, and the two schools were as ready and as prepared as they could be. Seijuro made sure he was warmed up and ready for this match, along with the other three of course, and Shintarou along with Shuutoku made preparations as well, leaving the more obsessive rituals to Shintarou with all his Oha Asa business. His lucky item was a samurai sword of all things, so finding one in the antique store on such short notice apparently posed no problem for him. As everyone began warming up on the court, two familiar people made their way into the stands up in the balcony area to sit down. A grey-haired grey-eyed teenager and a black-haired black-eyed teenager._

 _"_ _Do you think we missed anything?" Chihiro said as they sat down. Shuuzo looked down at the court._

 _"_ _Nah, I don't think so," he said. "I think they've just started warming up."_

 _Seijuro and Shintarou met at the halfway line on the court._

 _"_ _So," said Seijuro "I guess this is it."_

 _"_ _Indeed it is, nanodayo," said Shintarou. "I will not be holding back today, Seijuro."_

 _"_ _I wouldn't expect anything less. Is Cancer first today in Oha Asa?"_

 _"_ _Second, actually. So I compensated by bringing an even larger lucky item today."_

 _"_ _Oh? And what would that item be?"_

 _"_ _It's actually over—OI TAKAO! QUIT MESSING AROUND WITH MY LUCKY ITEM!"_

 _"_ _What? I just wanted to look at it a little."_

 _"_ _Looking does not require your hands, so put the sword back in its encasing, nanodayo!"_

 _As Shintarou ran off to go yell at Takao, Seijuro shook his head. Shintarou was really something. Letting his eyes wander a bit, he looks into the crowd and spots Chihiro and_ _Shuuzo_ , _sitting in the front row. Shuuzo grins and waves, Seijuro smiling and waving back at the two, before he was called back to warm up._

 _The match between the two schools was fierce. Rakuzan and Shuutoku went head to head from the beginning, the first quarter starting out with such a high run-and-gun pace like it was the end of the game. There were quite a few match-ups between players that the crowd liked to see. There was Eikichi and Shuutoku's new Centre. While he was good power wise, Eikichi has just had all the more experience in that position, but they competed for a lot of dunks and rebounds. Kotarou was extremely quick on his feet that day, getting by with his super speed dribbles. He beat a few players in terms of speed, since by the time they could even see where the ball had went, it had already sunk through the net. Reo may not have been as ridiculous as Shintarou with his shots, but he was in a league of his own when it came to the beauty and form of his three different shots. Especially the void, where he immobilized half of Shuutoku's offence positions. And of course, Seijuro was always making his own perfect plays, and although Shuutoku did put up a good fight, it was not enough to defeat the emperors of basketball, and the game ended with a score of 80 to 86. When the game ended and Rakuzan was done celebrating their victory after the fanfare, the teams went to go bow towards each other and Shintarou went to go talk to Seijuro once more._

 _"_ _It seems that today was no good, nanodayo. You got the win fair and square. It was a good match regardless." Seijuro nodded._

 _"_ _Likewise. You and your team put in a lot of effort." Shintarou held out his hand._

 _"_ _Congratulations," he said. Seijuro smiled and took a hold of the hand held out for him, shaking it firmly._

 _"_ _Thank you, Shin—ah!"_

 _Kotarou slammed into him as he began jumping up and down in excitement._

 _"_ _We won! We won, Sei!"_

 _"_ _That's great, Kotarou-nii-san, but was that really necessary?"_

 _"_ _You'll have to excuse his enthusiasm, Sei-chan," said Reo as he walked up to the three. "He's been running around ever since the game ended._

 _"_ _Well how can you blame him?" said Eikichi. "Anyway, your team is pretty strong, Shintarou."_

 _"_ _Thanks."_

 _"_ _Hey, you guys!"_

 _The five of them looked over and saw Chihiro and Shuuzo coming over to them._

 _"_ _Shuuzo-san, Chihiro-nii-san…"_

 _"_ _What's up?" said Shuuzo. "We watched the game. Congrats on your win you four."_

 _"_ _Thank you." Shuuzo turned to Shintarou and laughed as he patted his head._

 _"_ _What with you? Don't look so grumpy."_

 _"_ _Shuuzo-san, with all due respect, you'd look like this if you just lost, nanodayo."_

 _"_ _Maybe your sword wasn't big enough, Shintarou."_

 _"_ _Why do I detect sarcasm in your words, Seijuro?"_

 _"_ _Eh? Shuuzo-san and Chihiro-san are here too?"_

 _"_ _They beat us to it-ssu."_

 _They all turned around and saw the rest of the GoM coming towards them._

 _"_ _Ah, here comes more noise pollution," said Chihiro, stepping back before he was assaulted by seven other rainbow kids._

 _"_ _That was an exciting match to watch, Seijuro-kun," said Tetsuya. "Shintarou-kun was very good as well."_

 _"_ _I don't need your pity, Tetsuya."_

 _"_ _Now, now, Shintarou, be nice and accept his compliment," Seijuro said, trying to appease the glasses wearing Shooting Guard._

 _"_ _Well you can't blame him for feeling that way," said Tetsuya. "Taiga-kun, Daiki-kun, Atsushi-kun and Shōgo-kun have been muttering since."_

 _"_ _How typical of them…"_

 _And for a few minutes, the fourteen of them just began conversing with each other, just catching up with each other and congratulating the Rakuzan members for their win and everyone else who participated. That is until a voice halted their conversation._

 _"_ _HOLD IT RIGHT THERE."_

 _The group of them stared at Takao, who was a pointing a finger at them, along with all the other GoM teams staring at them as well. They all blinked._

 _"_ _What is it, Takao?" Shintarou sighed._

 _"_ _I thought it was weird that you knew Murasakibara and Akashi," he began "Why are you hanging out with the rest of them?"_

 _"_ _What are you talking about?" said Seijuro. "It's only natural that you hang out with family, is it not?"_

 _…_

 _…_

 _…_

 _"_ _WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"_

 _The entire stadium went ballistic at the redhead's statement. Did he just say that they were family?_

 _"_ _Y-You can't be serious!" Takao yelled. "You're all related?!"_

 _"_ _Yes, nanodayo," Shintarou said in exasperation as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We're related." Takao turned back to Seijuro for some type of_ _confirmation_.

 _"_ _Are you joking? Are you guys seriously all related?"_

 _"_ _Shintarou is telling the truth," Seijuro said. "Tetsuya, Taiga, Ryouta, Shintarou, Daiki, Satsuki, Atsushi, Shōgo and Shuuzo-san are all my cousins."_

 _"_ _HIM TOO?!"_

 _Half of the people hearing this news looked like they were going to faint. Even the press who were covering the finals, were just as shocked. Takao was speechless._

 _"_ _This can't be happening," he said, holding his head in his hands. "Even the number one Power Forward in the district is with them. I've seen this guy in magazines, mentioning all his younger cousins, but I didn't know it was you guys! And what's with this?! Why are all of you playing basketball?"_

 _"_ _Oh that," said Taiga. "We used to be on the same basketball team in elementary school, so to make things more fun, we made a promise to go to different schools to face off against each other."_

 _The Rakuzan team, who was listening in the whole time, finally understood the situation. But there was one thing that still bothered them._

 _"_ _Hey, Akashi."_

 _Seijuro turned to find one of his teammates calling him._

 _"_ _You said that the Generation of Miracles and Shuuzo were your cousins, but what is your relationship with the senpai?" Seijuro looked back at Kotarou, Eikichi, Reo and Chihiro._

 _"_ _They're my brothers."_

 _Now it was Rakuzan's turn to be horrified._

 _"_ _THEY'RE YOUR WHAT?!"_

 _"_ _BUT HOW?"_

 _"_ _YOU GUYS LOOK NOTHING LIKE EACH OTHER!"_

 _"_ _YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE THE SAME SURNAME!"_

 _"_ _WHAT KIND OF FREAKY GENE POOL DOES YOUR FAMILY HAVE?"_

 _"_ _Oh, no, it's not like that," Seijuro said, shaking his head quickly to dispel their confusion. "We're adoptive brothers." The team finally quieted down._

 _"_ _Oh."_

 _"_ _So that's what it was."_

 _"_ _Guess my elite basketball camp theory is out…"_

 _"_ _But Akashi," his teammate said. "Why didn't you say anything?" Seijuro stared back with a blank, clueless expression._

 _"_ _You never asked."_

 _"_ _DO YOU ONLY SPEAK WHEN SPOKEN TO?!"_

 _Coach Shirogane sighed and shook his head as the stadium erupted into chaos around him. This is exactly why he didn't say anything before. Even the other coaches were whispering to each other. Although, he must admit it was a surprise to find out that all the basketball prodigies were related. What an interesting basketball tournament this was. As the chaos unfolded around them, Tetsuya leaned toward Seijuro._

 _"_ _I don't think they're taking it well, Seijuro-kun."_

 _"_ _I agree," he said. "They seemed to be more confused than before we told them."_

 _"_ _I guess you shouldn't have said anything after all," said Shuuzo._

 _"_ _I guess not…"_

 _"_ _Let's get outta here."_

 _"_ _Agreed."_

 _"_ _Let's eat somewhere. Where do you guys wanna go?"_

 _"_ _Anywhere is fine."_

 _"_ _There's this diner I saw on the way here."_

 _"_ _That sounds nice. Let's go."_

 _So the GoM, the Uncrowned Kings and Shuuzo picked up and left the stadium, happily chatting away about every other thing, leaving everyone else inside the stadium to their own devices of insanity._

* * *

 **And it's done! Mya, I hope you enjoyed it, because I put a lot of thinking into it hahaha. And as a heads up, I won't be posting anything till the end of June because my exams end on the 23rd and I get back to the US on the 25th. So if you don't hear from me in over two weeks, well, you know the reason why you don't is because I'm not dead.**

 **Read and review please!**


	26. Idiots on vacation- Where are we going?

**What's good ma peeps? I'm back at it again with another chapter! Sorry, but I got so caught up in updating the other two fanfics that I accidentally neglected this one, hehe whoops. But now I have freed up my schedule and I can write for this to my heart's content. After all, since I'm out of school I ain't got nothing to do 'til mid September.**

 **Anyway, this is going to be another arc (you know you love them) so this'll be carrying on for a while. Not only that, but it's going to be the biggest arc I've done so far for this fanfic so stay tuned for each update to see how your favourite basketball idiots are doing! So this is a little taster of what you're getting yourself into, so the chapter is relatively short, but I'm just setting it up for the next time I update.**

 **WARNING: COMPLETE STUPIDITY HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA**

 **Let the chapter commence!**

* * *

Idiots on vacation- Where are we going?

It was a cool sunny evening in Kyoto. The five brothers were enjoying their day, happy that for once in three months, they had no immediate obligations to tend to. It was the end of July, meaning that school was out for the summer, and they were going to indulge in every second of the summer holiday. At a time like this, they would probably all be downstairs watching something on TV, but they had more important matters on their mind. In a day's time, the entire family would be going on vacation, both immediate and extended, and everyone was excited. They had planned this for quite a while since all their families had different schedules, and the cousins had to find a way for them to all travel on dates they were free. They were finally able to figure something out, so on the morning of the next day, they would all be getting ready to start this vacation. At the moment, Seijuro was in his room skyping the rest of the GoM, discussing the details of their trip.

"So has everyone packed their things?" Seijuro inquired. "It's best that we don't forget anything because we can't go back to anyone's house."

"I've finished packing-ssu!" Ryouta exclaimed.

"Me too!" Satsuki said excitedly. "It's just a matter of getting Dai-chan to pack."

"Leave me out of this, Satsuki!" He shouted from their shared screen. "I said I don't need that much time for it."

"We're leaving tomorrow, Ahomine!" Taiga said. "Are you just gonna throw everything in your suitcase five minutes before we have to go?"

"You underestimate me, Bakagami. I can pack in any type of condition."

"I don't need a lesson on your formless packing style!"

"The both of you are fools, nanodayo," Shintarou huffed. "It is only natural to do everything that you can. This is why I've packed in advance." He pointed his camera to his bags in the corner of his room, making everyone look on in awe.

"As expected of Shintarou-kun," said Tetsuya. "But why are your bags so bulky?"

"They have various things in them that could be potential lucky items, nanodayo."

"Oi Megane, the bags have a twenty-three-kilogram weight limit on them ya know? And don't hold us back in the security checks. I ain't being arrested because you brought some sketchy lucky item with you."

"Be silent, Shōgo. It is absolutely essential that I bring my lucky item, no matter what the cost, nanodayo."

"Ehhh? Does your bag have snacks in them, Shin-chin?"

"There's no need for snacks, Atsushi. And Ryouta, since Atsushi is staying at your house, you better see to it that he's fully packed."

"I've been trying to get him to finish all day-ssu! But he keeps saying that it's a pain and he leaves the suitcase half packed."

"How typical of him," said Seijuro. "Atsushi, if you pack now, I'll bring you maiubo tomorrow at the airport."

"Really~? I'll pack when we hang up!"

"Eh? Atsushicchi is suddenly so motivated!"

"You spoil him, Seijuro."

"If it's necessary for the occasion then I'll resort to whatever method gets the job done, Shintarou."

"Have you finished packing, Seijuro-kun?"

"But of course, Tetsuya. I had packed in advance as well. Does everyone have their passports packed? We can't fly anywhere unless you remember to bring them."

"We have them~!" said Satsuki. "I made sure to double-check."

"Good. And make sure to charge your electronics overnight so they don't run out of battery tomorrow. And remember you don't need to bring adaptors, this time, the outlets are similar. And also—"

"Alright, okaa-san we get it!" Daiki interrupted. "If you keep telling us how many things to remember then by the time you're done we'll miss the flight."

"My apologies," Seijuro said, realizing he was rambling. "I just want to make sure we don't give my brothers or Shuuzo-san a hard time tomorrow, especially considering what happened last time..."

"How was I supposed to know I left my BB gun in my backpack?" Shōgo said. "And I don't need you telling me off, Shuuzo already gave me a piece of his mind. And I still have the scar to prove it!"

"Only you would make such a blunder," said Shintarou. "It's no wonder security tackled you to the ground and took us in for questioning, nanodayo."

"Shut it!"

"Anyway, you all better brush up on your English! I may be the designated translator, but I don't wanna have to keep explaining everything when we get there."

"Rest assured Taiga, we'll be fine. Well...most of us at least."

"Oi! I saw you look at my screen Seijuro, I can handle English!"

"Tell that to your grades, Daiki."

"No one asked you Shintarou!"

"Either way, I hope that you're all ready," said Seijuro. "If not, be sure to finish all your preparations tonight. And don't forget to weigh your bags. Excess baggage charges are at least ten thousand yen and I know for a fact that none of you have that kind of money."

There was a knock on Seijuro's door. "Seijuro," Chihiro's voice said through the door. "Come downstairs and help with dinner."

"Well right in the nick of time... I have to go, everyone, be sure to remember what I've told you. Shuuzo-san will have our heads if we make him angry tomorrow. Goodbye now."

"Bye, Sei-kun!"

"Later, Seijuro."

"Goodbye, Seijuro."

"See ya."

"Bye bye Sei-chin~."

"Bye, Seijurocchi!"

"Peace out man."

"See you tomorrow, Seijuro-kun."

He pressed the red button on the video chat and ended the call, closing the Skype tab and then his laptop after. Then he finally stood up from his chair and went over to the door.

"Coming, Chihiro-nii-san!"

...

The five of them all helped out with making dinner, as usual, that night. When they finished the preparations and sat down to eat, the topic of discussion remained the same as the Skype call.

"Sei-chan, are you excited for tomorrow?" Reo asked. Seijuro nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "I think it's nice to go out of the country once in a while."

"Right? I heard the shopping is pretty good where we're going. I can't wait."

"Me too! I hope there's a lot of good places to go sightseeing!" Kotarou said, practically bouncing in his seat.

"Forget that! I'm just excited to hit up all the restaurants," said Eikichi.

"Must everything be about food or muscles, Eikichi?" Reo sighed. "You're hopelessly predictable with your vacation plans."

"They better have good books there," said Chihiro. "I wanted to get some foreign works anyway."

"You're just as predictable as Eikichi," Reo said, shaking his head in dismay. "I would've thought you'd at least have something else on your mind for the week we'll be traveling."

"A week is a good amount of time to spend abroad," said Seijuro. "I'm sure our trip will be filled with a lot of activities."

"I should hope so!" said Reo. "It'd be no fun otherwise."

"After dinner, we should all do a final check upstairs to see that everything's packed," said Chihiro. "When you're done all of you should take your bags downstairs. Then go to bed. The flight's at ten-thirty in the morning so we're leaving the house at six and I don't want to hear any of you complaining that you're tired tomorrow."

"You have our word Chihiro. I know Kotarou's gonna be the first one to complain."

"But Reo-nee, you'd probably take the longest to get ready tomorrow so I wouldn't be the only one getting yelled at."

"I may take long but at least I'm punctual! Don't try and drag me into this. Just go to bed on time."

"Hey chibi, where's Nuisance?"

"Hmm? I didn't tell you? One of my classmates offered to watch her for me while we were gone. So she's at their house for the week."

"Ohhh how convenient."

"Oi Mr. Macho over there, your plate is empty, so get up from the table and go double-check that you've packed everything."

"Yeah yeah I'm going, Chihiro."

"The same goes for you other three. If you're done then don't waste time. We have a long day tomorrow."

"You stress too much, Chihiro."

"I stress the perfect amount for someone who has to travel with idiots."

"Leave me and Sei-chan out of that, please. The other two are idiots, though."

"Hey!"

When everyone had finished their food, they cleared away and went upstairs. They did what Chihiro told them and did a final check of their things, making sure they packed enough clothes, toiletries and anything else they might have needed before doing one last weighing of said bags. And soon, after putting their respective electronics to charge, they all went to bed making sure to set their alarms for the early time of five in the morning, getting ready for tomorrow's big trip.

Destination: Los Angeles, USA.

* * *

 **You know what's happening, and you now know where they're going. So the next time I update, I'll be jumping right into it. But until then, you know what to do...**

 **Read and review please!**


	27. Idiots on vacation- All aboard

**Good afternoon to anyone who is actually in my timezone! For the rest of you people, well, good whatever time of the day it is. I am back with another chapter! It would've been out earlier but I've been out and about but hey! At least I finished.**

 **To jemxmarcial: Thank you SO SO MUCH for the review! I can't believe you managed to read my entire fanfic in less than a day! That's scary impressive if you ask me. And don't worry, I'll just put it out there that I am not going to end this series anytime soon. I have like more than 40 different chapters fully planned right about now, this is not a joke HAHAHA. Alsoooo~ speaking of chapters, consider your request officially accepted! *throws confetti and glitter in the air* I had a chapter idea like that anyway but damn your idea sounds WAY cooler. I'll write for it when the vacation arc is complete, since camping out sounds like a great summer idea for these idiots.**

 **For all you people out there who have a request for a chapter idea, send it over! I'll gladly write your idea for you no problem! Leave in a review or PM me if you like. Either one is fine, I can usually respond almost immediately.**

 **So yeah, I think that's all I have to say. Now, for the main event.**

 **Please enjoy!**

* * *

Idiots on vacation- All aboard 

The five brothers woke up the next day at the early time of five o'clock in the morning. The sun hadn't even risen yet and the birds had just barely gotten up in time to begin their morning chirping. While every one of the five brothers had set their clocks for the same exact time, Chihiro got up the fastest after the first alarm went off. As soon as his alarm began making noise he immediately silenced it and rose from his bed. He stretched out his body, soft popping noises coming from his joints and then he stood up. On a less important day, Chihiro would let the others sleep in for at least another five minutes, but they had a flight to catch in five and a half hours, so he had to make sure everyone was awake. With that, he stepped out of his room and shut the door behind him.

He first visited Eikichi's room. When he opened the door, he saw first of all that Eikichi was still passed out. Another thing he noticed was that his alarm was still blaring. Chihiro sighed and went over to him, shaking his shoulder.

"Wake up, Eikichi." Nothing happened. He tried again.

"Eikichi. I said wake up." Eikichi grunted and continued to sleep. Chihiro was beginning to get annoyed.

He grabbed a pillow that fell on the floor, raising his arm in the air and slamming it down on Eikichi's face, making him jump up and fall off the bed in surprise.

"Wh-Wha...?" Eikichi mumbled. "What the hell was that for?"

"The way you sleep it'd take me less time to wake someone up from a coma," Chihiro said in irritation. "Get the hell up and take a shower. That flight is ten plus hours and I don't want to be smelling you before I see you, for once."

Eikichi was grumbling under his breath but more or less did what he said and made his way toward the bathroom. After he left, Chihiro went out into the hallway, making his way to the other three's rooms. He was about to open Kotarou's door, but Kotarou himself flung it open before Chihiro could even reach the doorknob.

"Ooohhhh I'm so excited!" Kotarou said enthusiastically, jumping up and down. "I can't wait to go!"

"You're so noisy," Chihiro complained. "If you've got the energy to talk, you've got the energy to get ready. Start setting your clothes out."

"Honestly, what was the point of me setting an alarm?" Reo said tiredly as he stepped out of his room. "Kotarou's shouting woke me up anyway."

"At least _I_ don't have to wake you up," said Chihiro. "Which reminds me, has Seijuro woken up yet?" Reo snorted.

"Do you really think Sei-chan of all people is going to be happy waking up at five a.m.?" he laughed. "He's probably still in denial under the covers."

"Great..."

Chihiro brushed past Reo and opened the door to Seijuro's room. His clock wasn't playing some obnoxiously loud beeping or annoying song, so Chihiro assumed that Seijuro silenced the alarm and went back to sleep, which pissed him off even more. He went over to his bed and shook the lifeless body under the duvet.

"Seijuro wake up, we have to leave in an hour," Chihiro said. The body finally stirred (but just barely) and he heard a pitiful moan from within.

"Mm, I'm getting up," said Seijuro.

"You always tell me this and you never do," said Chihiro. "Get out from under the covers and go get ready."

"Yeah..."

He still didn't move.

Chihiro had only been awake for five minutes and he was already annoyed. He grabbed a hold of the corner of the duvet.

"If you don't get out of bed right now I'm ripping this off." The body flinched.

"Please don't," Seijuro muffled. Even so, he still made no move to get up. Chihiro shrugged.

"You asked for it." He pulled off the duvet in one swift motion exposing Seijuro's body to the colder air around him. The redhead groaned and attempted to grab his pillow to put over his head but Chihiro snatched it away and grabbed a hold of his wrist.

"Up. Now," is all he said, and he pulled Seijuro up, much to his younger brother's horror. Seijuro, now sitting up, opened bleary sleep-clouded eyes to glare at him. Chihiro was pretty sure he heard a low growl, but he just dismissed it.

"Don't just sit there trying to kill me with your eyes," said Chihiro. "Go get your things ready. We have to leave on time today."

Thus began their busy morning. The five of them spent the next hour getting freshened up, putting on their flight clothes, getting their things together and making sure everything was packed. Reo and Chihiro were the first ones down, sitting on the couch waiting for the rest of them to appear downstairs.

"When did you call the taxi for again?" Reo asked his older brother. Chihiro checked the time on his watch.

"It should be coming any minute from now," he replied. "The others should hurry up before the taxi gets here."

"We're coming down already, Chihiro."

The two turned around to the voice from behind them and saw Kotarou emerging from the staircase.

"About time," said Chihiro. "Where's Eikichi?"

"Here," he said, coming down after Kotarou. He was carrying Seijuro on his back, making Chihiro raise an eyebrow.

"What's wrong with him? Can't he walk?"

"He wanted to, but his low blood pressure had other plans," Eikichi grunted.

"Is he still alive?" Kotarou went over to the barely conscious Seijuro who had his face buried in Eikichi's shoulder and poked his cheek. Seijuro groaned and swatted his hand away before going limp once again.

"Yep, he's still alive," said Kotarou.

"Even if he is, it's still the same as carrying a corpse," Eikichi complained. "He's usually light but this time, he's just all dead weight. This sucks."

"At least everyone is downstairs. Come on, I've got a text that the taxi is outside. Everyone start bringing bags out."

They opened the front door of the house and began bringing their suitcases out to the outside, to the awaiting taxi parked next to the curb. Once they had fully situated themselves into the large taxi and their bags were safely inside, the taxi pulled away from their house and they were on their way.

The taxi ride was merely the first leg of their journey. The taxi was meant to take them to Kyoto train station, where they'd ride the train from Kyoto station to Tokyo station. The train ride lasted two hours in itself, allowing the five brothers to make up for whatever sleep they lost already. When the train ride ended, they had to switch to another line and change platforms, so they could ride the monorail. The monorail took the five to the airport in the record time of twenty-five minutes. It was when they finally stepped off the monorail and into the airport that they could call their journey complete. They entered at Terminal 1, where their flight would be departing from and stood near the entrance with their bags.

"Well here we are," said Chihiro. "Where is everyone else?"

"Ah that's right," said Reo. "They were supposed to meet us here five minutes ago, yes?"

"Oiiii! Over here!"

The five of them turned around and saw the other nine coming over to them with their own respective suitcases. Kotarou waved back excitedly at the large group.

"Oh finally! You guys are here!"

"But still," Chihiro said. "How did we manage to get here before you all when we live two hours away in a completely different city?"

"Have you ever _tried_ traveling with this bunch?" Shuuzo said, pointing to the rest of the GoM. "It's a pain in the ass just to round them up!"

"Shintarou-kun refused to leave his house because he was in last place on Oha Asa," Tetsuya explained. Shintarou appeared somewhat anxious about the whole thing at the moment, looking more pale than usual.

"Oha Asa is never wrong," he said. "If Cancers are in last place today then surely something disastrous is going to happen on this flight. That's why I have purchased the biggest lucky item I could find, nanodayo."

"Is that what the giant pencil is for?" Eikichi asked, looking down at the yellow pointed stick which was almost as tall as Shintarou himself.

"Precisely," the Shooting Guard replied. "This is what it means to do everything you can."

"Yeah, yeah save the profound bullshit for whoever has the misfortune of sitting next to you on the flight," said Shōgo. "No one really cares about your efforts with Oha Asa."

"If Cancers were in a better ranking today I would have already thrown my lucky item at you."

"Don't you two start fighting yet," said Shuuzo. "We have bags to check in and you brats better not have anything overweight."

And they were off to the check in line. Fortunately, it wasn't as long as they thought it would be, so they go to the front in no time and we're all able to successfully check in all their luggage with no complications. Anyone who had a bag of some sort simply carried it as hand luggage. Even though they spent very little time in line, they still had to make it to the gate so they didn't miss boarding. So they picked up and left, ready to navigate the large airport to get to their gate.

There were a few snags on the way. First off, it was extremely difficult to keep track of nine rainbow children in a crowded area, _especially_ when one possesses the ability to appear and disappear at random. Even when Tetsuya wasn't going ghost, some of the others were easily distracted on their way to the gate, and everyone in the airport pitied Shuuzo as he yelled various things to his rainbow underlings when they went out of line.

"Atsushi stop touching all the snacks we're not buying anything!"

"Shōgo if you scare one more child in this airport I'll beat your ass!"

"Shintarou I don't care if you're not compatible with Geminis today, stop moving away from Ryouta! And Ryouta stop complaining about it! I don't want to hear you either!"

"Taiga! Daiki! How many times do I have to tell you to stop walking down the up escalator? It's not funny and you don't look cool!"

"And Tetsuya...WHERE THE HELL IS TETSUYA?!"

"Busy guy," Reo said to Eikichi as Shuuzo erupted into chaos.

"I'm surprised he hasn't had any heart problems dealing with all of them," Eikichi said back. "They sure do look like a handful."

"Should we help out?"

"Nah, I think he's got it."

"Well, out of all of this, at least Sei-chan hasn't caused trouble." Seijuro was trailing alongside the both of them, overhearing the conversation and side-eyeing his brothers.

"I suppose not," he said. "And Satsuki hasn't faced Shuuzo-san's wrath either."

"As far as you're concerned I'm the most normal out of all of you boys," said Satsuki. "I've seen you cause trouble too, Sei-kun."

"Heh. That's only when I want to," he replied mischievously. "All the other times I simply just sit back and enjoy the show."

It took them a bit of extra time with all the shenanigans, and a lot of questioning from security about the safety of a giant pencil on board an aircraft, but they finally reached the gate they were searching for, where they were to board from in ten minutes. The airline they were taking to L.A. was Japan airlines, a typical choice. They had good quality service, so there was nothing to worry about. After getting to the gate and waiting for the announcer to call their rows, the fourteen of them boarded the plane.

...

The seating arrangement was wild in itself. Taking up the middle and end section in the economy class cabin, Seijuro was in between Reo and Shuuzo, the two phantoms were beside each other with Satsuki sitting next to Tetsuya, Kotarou and Eikichi were next to each other in the two seaters along with Atsushi and Shintarou who were just in front of them with Shōgo in the aisle seat so he could be within arm's reach of Shuuzo. And Ryouta was next to the currently arguing Taiga and Daiki, may his soul rest in peace.

"Can somebody switch seats with me please?" he begged. "I don't want to hear them arguing next to me for the whole flight-ssu."

"No way!" Satsuki exclaimed. "I have to deal with Dai-chan on a daily basis, so now it's your turn."

"And I don't want to deal with Taiga-kun either," said Tetsuya. "So Ryouta-kun, please take care of them."

"But I don't wanna! Don't ignore me!"

"Do you think I want to be next to these two miscreants?" said Shintarou. "I could not be with worse people."

"Ehhhh? Shin-chin you're mean."

"Yeah, quit playin' victim Shintarou," Shōgo complained. "No one wants to be paired up with you either."

"They seem relatively upset," said Seijuro, looking over at the others. Shuuzo opened his eyes for just enough time to see what he was talking about.

"So it seems," he said, going back to closing his eyes. Seijuro smiled in amusement and quirked a brow at his older cousin.

"Where's your usual 'Just suck it up and deal with it' speech that you give us when we complain?"

"As much as I'd like to yell at you people or kick someone's ass, I'm off the clock until this plane takes off. Watching you people twenty-four seven is bad for my health."

"Fair enough."

They were about to continue their conversation until a flight attendant came up to their row.

"Excuse me," the man said. "Is a Mister Kuroko Tetsuya on this flight?" Seijuro blinked.

"Tetsuya? He's sitting right behind us."

"Sir, you're pointing to an empty chair."

"I can assure you I'm not an empty chair."

"DEAR LORD!"

Everyone in the cabin turned to the flight attendant, surprised at his sudden outburst as he eyed the teal haired boy who suddenly materialized in the seat in front of him.

"I am Kuroko Tetsuya, Mister flight attendant." The flight attendant attempted to regain his composure as he cleared his throat.

"Of course...my mistake," he said. "In that case, I'll go inform the captain that we have everyone."

As the flight attendant hurried to the front of the plane, Tetsuya sighed.

"They never seem to be able to see me," he said. "This happened the last time and it caused a ten-minute delay." Seijuro chuckled.

"Don't worry, Tetsuya, they'll notice you one day."

...

Once everyone had been accounted for, the speakers above turned on and a voice was heard from them.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking," a man said. "Welcome to Japan airlines. Our flight today will be a straight flight from Tokyo, Japan to Los Angeles, USA with a duration of eleven hours and fifteen minutes. The plane will be taking off very shortly so please ensure that all devices are switched off or put into airplane mode. Also, ensure that your luggage is properly stowed away, the seats and food trays are up, and your seatbelts are fastened. As we approach the runway we ask that you keep your attention to the TV screens to see our guidelines and procedures of this flight. Thank you."

So while the plane moved, the passengers tuned into the video being played in front of them, telling them, as the captain mentioned earlier, about guidelines and procedures such as what to do during an emergency landing, where to find the life jackets, what happens when there's low oxygen in the cabin, etc. It was a five-minute long video, and when it was finished, they had finally reached the beginning of the runway. By this time, Daiki had stopped arguing long enough with Taiga to stare out of Ryouta's window.

"Ohhhh look at that!" he said. "We're gonna start the take-off!"

"This is my favorite part of the plane ride-ssu!" Ryouta chirped. "It's like being on a roller coaster."

"All I see it as is nauseating," Shintarou grimaced. "I'd rather not be flung here and there while the plane goes at unbearable speeds."

"Are you serious?" said Shōgo. "What kind of sissy can't handle the take-off? That's like, the best part."

"I just prefer it when the whole plane isn't shaking, nanodayo."

"I like it when the plane isn't shaking either," Atsushi drawled. "I can eat my snacks that way."

"The shaking makes it way more fun, though!" Kotarou retorted. "If it's all smooth sailing then where's the fun in that?"

"Are you asking for a death wish, Kotarou?" Chihiro said from in front of them. "If the ride is smooth that means we won't have any complications. I'm not one for shaking or turbulence of any kind."

"Let's just hope none of you are sick on this ride," Shuuzo said. "I don't wanna have to apologize to any flight attendant on your behalf."

The plane finally lined itself up with the runway and the lights on it illuminated. Suddenly, the engine began getting louder and louder as the plane was moving forward and started picking up speed. Then it got faster and faster, the rumbling from the wheels making friction with the ground below causing the cabin to shake, making Ryouta and Daiki put their hands up in the air and laugh with excitement, to which Shuuzo responded by reaching past his seat and whacking them both across the head, telling them to stop "acting like five-year-olds" and "put your goddamn hands down". Once the plane had finally picked up enough speed, it tilted upwards and began lifting itself off the ground. And then it had completely propelled itself up in the air and it had left the ground below, finally taking off from Tokyo International Airport. The others were watching in amazement as Tokyo got smaller the higher up the plane flew. It was an amazing sight to see.

"Look, Sei-chan," said Reo, pointing to his window. "Isn't Tokyo pretty from high up?"

"It really is," said Seijuro, leaning over to see the view. "I've heard it looks even more amazing at night."

"Mm. Perhaps we should book a nighttime flight the next time we go out of the country."

Seijuro watched as Japan began disappearing before his very eyes as it was masked by white clouds. The next time the plane lands, they'll be in the states.

~O~

Had the flight been boring, it would be easy to forget the thing altogether, but there were a few things that happened which were worth mentioning.

 _ **Post take-off- Flight time remaining: 10 hours 15 minutes**_

The crew was coming around with carts through the aisle and in the carts were various trays of food that they were serving for lunch. They were handing them out as they went along the rows and also serving drinks with them. They had finished with half the cabin and was now tending to the family.

"Good afternoon, would you like the beef or chicken?" a female flight attendant asked.

"Umm...I'll take the chicken please," said Satsuki. The woman nodded and put a meal set and her tray.

"And for you, sir?"

"I'll take the beef please," said Chihiro. As the woman handed him his own tray of food, she was about to move onto the next row when she felt someone tug on her shirt.

"Ano..."

The woman let out a terrified squeal as she looked over and saw the teal-haired boy tugging at her uniform.

"You forgot to give me a meal."

"Oh! M-My apologies young man," the flight attendant stammered. "I didn't see you there."

When she had finished serving him, all the other cousins just looked on in pity.

"That's just tragic," said Daiki. Ryouta nodded as he looked on in sympathy.

"Poor Tetsuyacchi..."

"This is why I keep telling you to speak up," said Chihiro. "They won't notice you until you say something."

"Chihiro-san it's fine," said Tetsuya. "Even if I say something they don't notice me anyway."

"Because you don't speak loud enough. Try it the next time."

"Yes, Chihiro-san."

...

 _ **Post take-off- Flight time remaining: 8 hours 27 minutes**_

"Ne~ are there any snacks?" Atsushi asked a flight attendant who just passed by. She hummed in thought.

"I'll see what we have, sir," she answered, and then she was off to the back. Shintarou frowned.

"Atsushi, this is the fifth time you have asked for snacks. Enough is enough, nanodayo."

"Ehhh? But Shin-chin I'm still hungry," he retorted, a growing pout on his face. "It's just snacks."

"Ask for proper food then, nanodayo. Don't be resorting to snacks. They don't do anything."

"Shin-chin is stingy~."

"What did you call me?!"

"Don't make me come back there, you two," said Shuuzo. "If I hear noise from any of you then I won't be happy."

They shut up after that.

...

 _ **Post take-off- Remaining flight time: 5 hours 52 minutes**_

The gang was pretty chill at this time, either talking with each other, playing games, watching a movie or just staring out the window. It was a pretty relaxed atmosphere. Well, except for one thing.

Shōgo was bored out of his mind. He had nothing to do and no one was there to entertain him, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.

He had a packet of peanuts from his food tray that he kept from earlier, and he hadn't opened it. But he believed now was the time to do so. He opened the little bag and poured a few peanuts into his hand. Then, he reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a rubber band. He put a peanut in the middle and stretched the rubber band as far back as he could and closed one eye to aim. Once he had a good clear shot, he released the rubber band, and the peanut flew through the air and made contact with-

"Ow!"

Daiki looked away from his game to see that Ryouta was rubbing the back of his head while he groaned in pain.

"What wrong with you?" he asked.

"Something just hit me," said Ryouta. "And I have no idea what it was!"

"You're probably just imagining things then." Daiki went back to his screen and continued playing when he heard Ryouta again.

"Ow!"

"What is it now?"

"It just hit me again-ssu!" Ryouta cried.

"You're just being a baby over nothing!" said Daiki. "Nothing is hitting you. Just shut up and let me play my game in peace."

"Okay, okay!"

"Geez..." Daiki didn't even get to go back to his game before Ryouta cried out again.

"OWWWW!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"

Shōgo snickered quietly to himself as he watched Daiki and Ryouta duke it out in their seats. He was just about to send over another peanut when he felt a hand grip his shoulder.

"Ah? I thought I heard a commotion here. So it was you all along. Hmm, Shōgo-kuuuuun~?"

Shōgo froze in fear as he looked up at the hand and saw Shuuzo with an eerie smile on his face. He immediately started panicking.

"Er-no! I-It wasn't me, I swear!" he stammered, hiding the rubber band. "I was just sitting here!" The grip on his shoulder got tighter and Shōgo's soul nearly departed from his body.

"Is that so?" said Shuuzo. "Why don't we talk about it over there?"

Suddenly Shōgo was out of his seat and being dragged to the bathroom.

"Where are you going, Shuuzo?" Reo asked. Shuuzo jerked a thumb towards the clearly terrified Shōgo.

"Oh, I just thought I'd have a little chat with him a little."

"Okay, don't be out for too long."

"Hey! What about me?!"

"Shōgo hush, you'll disturb other passengers."

"Wait! Don't leave me with him! REOOOOO!"

Basically, the entire family ignored Shōgo's please as he was dragged into the bathroom. But a few other passengers were vaguely concerned when they heard screams and a lot of painful cracking noises coming from inside. They were, even more, weirded out when Shōgo came out nearly unconscious and Shuuzo was beaming as if he just won the lottery. But no one ended up questioning him.

…

 _ **Post take-off- Remaining flight time: 5 hours 15 minutes**_

At this point in time, no one was talking or making noise, but this was perhaps the best time of all. As Shuuzo looked around at the family, he realized everyone had fallen asleep. Seijuro had fallen asleep on Reo and Reo was sleeping against the window with a protective arm around his younger brother. The two phantoms had fallen asleep against each other as well, books opened but never finished, and the arm rest between Tetsuya and Satsuki's seat was up, so she could rest her head on his lap. Taiga and Daiki for some odd reason couldn't stand each other awake, yet here they were using each other as pillows while Ryouta's head was lolling to the side with earplugs in. _He must have had enough_ , Shuuzo thought. Shōgo was basically knocked unconscious after making too much of ruckus, so could you really say he was asleep or was he in a coma, who knows? Shintarou was crossing his arms in his sleep, typical tsundere body language while Atsushi was next to him passed out with a maiubo sticking out of his mouth. Meanwhile, Kotarou and Eikichi fell asleep while their consoles were still out, the music from the video game acting like a lullaby. Shuuzo shook his head and smirked, storing this memory in his memory banks for later reference. And now, since everyone was asleep, he was satisfied and decided to go to sleep himself. He sighed as he closed his eyes and put his head back on the seat.

Goodnight Kiseki~

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed that! Next time, the fun shall begin for our lovely basketball bakas. Until then, you know what to do...**

 **Read and review please!**


	28. Idiots on vacation- The party is here

**Hello and good day people! I have finally returned! Sorry for the delay, but I've had people in my house since last Thursday and when they left two days ago more people came over on Friday and I've been mentally exhausted since (HAHA KILL ME). But yeah here's the next chapter for the vacation arc.**

 **Thank you to everyone who reviewed they really made me so happy! I hope you like this chapter too!**

 **BEFORE I BEGIN:**

 **I just want to say that any conversations going on in this chapter in italics is in English. You know, since they're in the US after all.**

 **THIS CHAPTER IS LITERALLY COMPLETE NONSENSE HAHAHAHAHA**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Idiots on vacation- The party is here

After over ten whole hours of flying, the plane from Tokyo finally began making preparations for landing.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. As we make our descent to the ground below we are going to switch on the seatbelt sign. Anyone who is currently up and about in the cabin I would ask that you start making your way back to your seats."

The gang was just beginning to wake up, and one by one they all opened their eyes and were looking around.

"Oh my God my neck," Shuuzo sighed. "I think I slept funny."

"Well, no funnier than those two," said Reo, looking over at Taiga and Daiki, who had just realized they'd been sleeping on each other the entire time and were now voicing their apparent disgust.

"You should consider yourselves lucky, nanodayo," said Shintarou. "I've got crumbs in my hair thanks to Atsushi."

"Oh. My bad~," said Atsushi. "But Shin-chin was a good pillow."

"It must suck to be him-ssu," said Ryouta. "But out of all of us, wasn't it Shōgo-kun who got the worst of it?" Everyone looked over to the ashen-haired boy who looked like he was on the verge of death.

 _Oh most definitely_ , they all thought.

"He really had a rough time," said Taiga.

"Yeah," Daiki agreed. "Even I feel sorry for him."

"He lived a good life," said Tetsuya. "I pray that his soul is at peace."

"Oi, I heard that ghosto," Shōgo growled. "Quit acting like I'm dead."

"Oh, you're alive, Shōgo-kun."

"Hey!"

"He won't be alive for long if he tries any type of shit with me again," said Shuuzo, his death glare silencing Shōgo in less than a second. "That goes for the rest of you guys too. While we're here, don't cause trouble. Got it?"

The younger ones nodded, out of the pure fear of what he might do to them if they said no. After all, they were in foreign land. So they had to make sure that the trip had as little stress as possible.

...

The plane landed at Los Angeles International Airport at five minutes to six in the evening. As the plane finally slowed down and pulled in, the passengers of the flight got themselves ready to make a break for customs. The gang got down with the rest of them and followed the crowd out. As discussed before during the Skype call the night before, Taiga was officially the designated translator and he also had to guide everyone through the airport.

"Oi, you sure you know where you're going, Taiga?" Daiki asked.

"Of course I do!" Taiga exclaimed. "I've been through this airport more times than you've opened a book."

"So more than once," said Shuuzo.

"Hey! I read books!"

"Porn magazines don't count, Daiki," Seijuro said as he brushed past. "And it would do you good to educate yourself on some English by paying attention to what the signs say in the airport."

"Hmph! Like _you_ know what they say."

"Of course I do."

"Then read that sign right there," said Daiki, pointing to a sign over their heads. Seijuro looked up and briefly scanned the words.

"It says ' _Connecting flights through here_ '."

"What's that one say?"

"That one says ' _US citizens_ '."

"What about that one?"

"That one says ' _Baggage claim_ '. Daiki, are you finished?"

"Hahaha, that's just great-ssu!" Ryouta laughed when he saw Daiki's put out expression. "Just admit that Seijurocchi is better at English than you!"

"Just shut up!" Daiki shouted. "I don't care anymore."

"Hehe, you really are Ahomine," Taiga commented.

"Like you're one to talk about being stupid," he retorted. "You're just as dumb as I am."

"Don't start grouping people with you, Daiki," said Shintarou. "While Taiga may be an idiot, he can still speak, read and write in English while you can barely write anything legible in Japanese, nanodayo."

"Thank you, Shintarou...hey wait! Why'd you call me an idiot?! I'm not an idiot!"

"Yes you are," said everyone else. Taiga mumbled something under his breath before going back to guiding the group through the large building.

Customs was as normal as customs could be, the security manning the desk asking them various questions about the reasons for their travels, checking passports and all the other things required for a foreigner to enter the country. When they came out of customs, they went straight to currency exchange, so Shuuzo could exchange the money that they had for their vacation from yen to dollars. Once that was done, they went over to baggage claims. Obviously, there was a lot of commotion caused with the fourteen of them, especially when some of them thought it was funny to sit on the baggage carousel's conveyor belt and ride it like an amusement park attraction. Shuuzo had a lot of work cut out for him, the black-haired teenager making the GoM walk in front so the five eldest could herd them from behind. Once they were out of the airport, they took a shuttle to their hotel. The shuttle ride was filled with excited conversation about how their time in the states would go down and what they were planning to do. Most of them were also paying attention to the sights that lay beyond the open car windows as their ears took in the foreign tongue of English. Anyone who wasn't doing that was busy listening to the radio.

"The music is quite different here than in Japan," said Seijuro.

"You're right, Sei," said Kotarou, perking up his ears to the song playing. "They sure like playing a lot of rap music."

"With a lot of profanities," said Reo, scrunching up his nose in distaste at the explicit lyrics.

"Tai-chan, you used to live in L.A. didn't you?" said Satsuki. "Was it always this busy in town?"

"It always gets like this in summer," said Taiga, staring outside at all the people. "L.A. is full of tourists in the summer because there's a lot to do here."

"I bet there are a lot of beach babes in the summer," said Daiki, whistling as they passed by a few women in bikinis.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Daiki," Shintarou said in annoyance. "Can't you suppress your hormones for the one week we're away from home?"

"Everyone shut up," said Shuuzo. "We've arrived at the hotel."

The shuttle stopped outside their hotel and they all got down and a bell hop came and welcomed them as he took their bags and began stacking them on a luggage cart. As they followed the man inside, they took a good look at the lobby they were in, it was spacious and well-furnished, not to mention teeming with people. Most of the people within their vicinity were staring as the walking rainbow entered the hotel. They hadn't realized how many heads they would turn while they're here, but in all fairness, they turned a lot of heads in Japan too. The fourteen of them made their way to the front desk, where the woman standing behind the desk looked up from the computer and smiled at them.

" _Hello and welcome_ ," she said cheerfully. " _Will you be checking in with us today?_ "

" _Um, yes,_ " said Shuuzo. " _We have made a reser...a resev...uh..._ "

" _A reservation_ ," Taiga whispered in his ear.

" _Right, a reservation,_ " said Shuuzo. He may have been in this country for a few years, but he still tripped over the more complicated words when he spoke English.

" _Of course,_ " said the woman. Her fingers went flying on the keyboard. " _What is your name?_ "

" _Nijimura Shuuzo._ "

"No, Shuuzo-san," said Taiga. "You switch the order of your names around in America. Remember?" Shuuzo frowned. After he moved back from the states, he forgot some of the customs.

" _I mean Shuuzo Nijimura_ ," Shuuzo corrected at the last minute. Already he felt awkward trying to introduce himself.

" _Right, would you mind spelling that for me, sir?_ "

Shuuzo gave the woman the correct spelling for his family and given name. The woman began typing on keyboard again.

" _Okay, I have you right here, Mr. Nijimura,_ " said the woman. " _Now I just need you to answer a few questions._ "

From there, they spent a few minutes standing there and waiting for Shuuzo to finish answering questions and presenting his personal details for them to check in. When that was finished, the woman turned around and got several key cards out of a locked cabinet and handed them to Shuuzo.

" _Here are your room keys. You're on the twentieth floor and the numbers are on the cards. We hope you'll enjoy your stay._ "

" _Thank you very much,_ " said Shuuzo, beckoning the others to follow him out. The group along with the man with their bags took the elevators up to the twentieth floor and followed the bell hop to their respective rooms. They were three different rooms that were all next to each other. When they got there, Shuuzo gave one key card to Chihiro and one to Eikichi.

"I'll take this room," he said. "Chihiro, you take one room while Eikichi takes the other. You're in charge of whoever is staying with you."

"Yes, boss!"

"Whatever."

"As for the rest of you," said Shuuzo. "If you're staying with either Eikichi or Chihiro and I hear even one complaint from them, just know that you'll have to answer to me. Now go get ready, we still have time to see some sights to see before we go to bed tonight, so be dressed and out of your rooms in fifteen minutes. Am I clear?" Everyone nodded.

"Alright, dismissed!"

~O~

When the fifteen minutes were up, Shuuzo came out of the hotel room where a few people were waiting outside.

"Alright, it's been fifteen minutes," he said. "Is everyone ready?"

"We're waiting for a few more," said Reo.

"Alright, who do I need to yell at?" Shuuzo did a head count and saw they were missing two people. "Where are Tetsuya and Seijuro?"

"Ah, I'll go call them." Reo poked his head back into one of the rooms. "Sei-chan? Are you and Tetsu-chan done in there? Everyone is waiting."

"I'm coming out now."

His brothers watched as Seijuro came into the hallway and sweat-dropped when they saw what he was wearing. They imagined their younger brother in many things, but they most definitely did not imagine him in cargo shorts, a blue Hawaiian collared shirt, and a beige fedora. Chihiro almost cringed.

"Seijuro, what the hell are you wearing?"

"What are you saying?" Seijuro said. "These are my vacation clothes." His older brother face-palmed.

"For the love of God, do you _really_ have to wear that?"

"Yeah, Seijuro-kun, that's so lame." The grey-haired teenager flinched at the sudden voice to his immediate left.

"Oh, it's just you Tetsuya," said Chihiro. "And thank you for agreeing with- wait hang on..." He looked at the teal-haired phantom before him with incredulous eyes.

"Why are you disagreeing with me when you're wearing the exact same outfit?" Tetsuya looked down at his own Hawaiian collared shirt before looking back up at Chihiro.

"This is not the same outfit," he said. "My shirt is red and Seijuro-kun's shirt is blue."

"That's still just as cringeworthy!"

"Oh my God Tetsu stop."

"I think Tetsu-kun looks great!"

"You think Tetsu looks great in everything, Satsuki."

"Not bad, Tetsuya... Maybe I should get red next time," Seijuro pondered. Chihiro whipped his head back to him with disgust.

"Don't you dare buy another one of those shirts," he said. "I'll throw it in the trash."

"I'll buy what I please, Chihiro-nii-san."

"Reo, tell them to change, I can't go out in public with those two." Reo was already taking pictures while his nose bled excessively.

"Just let them be for once," he said. "They're such angels..."

"You're bleeding out on the carpet!"

"It doesn't matter," said Shuuzo, waving a hand to dismiss the subject. "Let's just go."

"Ne, Shuuzo, where are we going?" Kotarou asked. Shuuzo chuckled as a strange gleam came into his eye.

"I'm glad you asked, Kotarou..."

~O~

"Welcome to Hollywood, brats!"

Everyone was staring in awe at the bright lights and busy streets.

"Ohhhhh we're actually in Hollywood!" Kotarou exclaimed.

"What are we going to do here?" Ryouta asked excitedly.

"Oh! Oh! Let's go to the walk of fame!"

"Alright, walk of fame it is. Come on, I think it's this way."

The fourteen of them made their way downtown and to the star-lined streets of Hollywood. When they got there, it was absolutely packed. Hundreds and hundreds of people were walking around and sightseeing. Shuuzo put his hands on his hips and huffed out an air of satisfaction.

"Well, here we are," he said. "Fifteen whole blocks of brass stars. Let's check it out."

And so one by one, they all followed Shuuzo's lead and went into the big crowd of people. Everyone was paying attention to all the famous names on the ground since the group found it exciting to point out the names of iconic celebrities on the walk of fame.

"Hey, I know this name, it says Steven Spielberg!"

"This one belongs to Christina Aguilera!"

"This one has Muhammad Ali's name on it!"

"Look at this one! It's Michael Jackson's!"

Shuuzo chuckled a little bit as he stood by Reo, watching their younger cousins keep pointing and shouting out different names to each other.

"They're having fun," he said. Reo smiled.

"Let them be," he said. "It's rare when all of them are excited together."

"Fair point." Their conversation was interrupted when they heard a disturbingly loud exclamation come from their group, which made everyone stop what they were doing to stare at Daiki, who was the one who made the noise.

"What are you screaming for?" Taiga said in annoyance. Daiki pointed a shaky finger to a man who was wearing an extraordinary white show outfit studded with golden stars and various other shiny jewel-like objects with a cape at the back. He also had ridiculously gelled up hair with several rings on his fingers and a pair of sunglasses on. The man was busy taking pictures with a few people in the street. The thirteen of them looked from the man back to Daiki.

"What's so great about him?" Shōgo asked. Daiki looked absolutely star-struck.

"It's Elvis..."

"What?"

"IT'S FREAKING ELVIS!"

"Haaah?! What the hell are you talking about? He's dead you idiot!"

Daiki didn't hear him. He was too busy running over to the Elvis impersonator down the street, leaving the rest of his family to stare at him in disbelief.

 _What a dumbass_ , they all thought.

" _Hey, Mister! Are you Elvis?_ "

The man turned around and saw a blue haired teenager excitedly running over. He smiled and got back into character.

" _Yes, that would be me,_ " he said in Elvis' accent. " _What can I help you with, young man? Did you want a picture?_ "

" _I want a song!_ "

" _Huh?_ "

" _Sing me a song, Elvis!_ "

Before the man could open his mouth, he jolted as a black-haired teenager came up behind the blue-haired teenager and whacked him across the head.

"Stop annoying other people dumbass!" Shuuzo said. He turned to the Elvis impersonator and dipped his head in a subtle apology.

" _I'm sorry about him,_ " he said. " _He's just an idiot so he doesn't know what he's doing._ "

" _It's alright,_ " the man laughed. " _I could sing a few songs anyway._ "

" _You could?!_ " Daiki exclaimed.

" _Sure,_ " the man said. " _Anything for a fan._ " The man cleared his throat. " _You ain't nothin' but a hound dog, cryin' all the time, well you ain't never caught a rabbit, and you ain't no friend of mine._ "

" _Well they said you was high-classed, well, that was just a lie_ ," Daiki joined in. " _Yeah they said you was high-classed, well, that was just a lie. Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit, and you ain't no friend of mine._ "

" _You ain't nothin' but a hound dog, cryin' all the time._ " They both sung." _You ain't nothin' but a hound dog, cryin' all the time. Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit, and you ain't no friend of miiiiiine~!_ "

The rest of the family was looking at Daiki like he had two heads.

"I never knew Daiki listened to Elvis," said Taiga. Satsuki was just as astonished.

"Yeah. Neither did I..."

~O~

The family was there for a good thirty minutes since Daiki kept them on the walk of fame because he was adamant on the man singing through several of Elvis' classic hits. By the time they pulled him away and waved goodbye to the extremely patient man, the crew had their minds on something else other than the Elvis songs stuck in their head.

"I'm starving," said Eikichi.

"For once, I agree with you," said Reo. "I think we could all use something to eat. Where's the nearest restaurant?"

"What about that one?" Shuuzo suggested. Everyone looked to where he was pointing. The sign on the establishment was a yellow circle, and within that circle were red letters that read 'Hard Rock Café'. Kotarou was already excited from the sign.

"Yeah, let's do that one!" he said. "It looks cool!"

"Are you sure, Shuuzo?" Reo asked skeptically. "It's a bit risky to just choose a random restaurant."

"Nah, it's cool," said Shuuzo. "I came here with my family once. They have good food. Trust me on this one." And soon enough, they were all piling inside.

When they entered the restaurant, the first thing they noticed is how many people were inside. People were here with friends, there were husbands, wives, and children and there was music playing from the speaker. It was also lively near their impressive bar, the bartenders serving drinks at high speeds to awaiting customers while the other workers walking around were busy waiting tables. There was not a blank space on any wall, every spot being covered by a picture of a famous person of some sort. But the most important thing they noticed was the waft of food that they all smelled. Already, the hungrier patrons of the group were drooling, so that was signal enough for them to make their way to the woman standing behind the small table at the entrance of the restaurant.

" _Hello, and welcome to Hard Rock Café!_ " the woman said. " _Would you like a table?_ "

" _Yes, we would,_ " said Shuuzo. " _Is there enough space for all of us?_ "

" _Lucky for you, a large group just left, so we have some tables ready to use right now. If you'll follow the waiter over there to your tables we'll be happy to serve you._ "

" _Thank you._ "

The fourteen of them followed a man who was waiting by the front table and took them over to a two large tables. Seven went on one table while the other seven went to the table next to them and they all picked up the menus to browse. While they were waiting for the waiter to return, they took a good look at the restaurant around them.

"Ehhh, not bad, not bad at all-ssu," Ryouta commented.

"This place is pretty nice," said Daiki.

"Does this place have good desserts?" said Atsushi. "I hope they have pocky~."

"This is an American restaurant," said Taiga. "Of course, they don't have pocky." While they were busy talking, Shuuzo looked over to Shintarou, who had his phone out and was listening to something with his earphones. He frowned.

"Oi, Shintarou," he said. "Didn't anyone ever teach you that it's rude to use your phone at the table?"

"This is of utmost importance," said Shintarou. "I'm listening to Oha Asa, nanodayo."

"I thought you already had your lucky item."

"I do, nodayo," Shintarou said, motioning to the baseball cap on his head (Shuuzo was thankful his lucky item was normal today). "But since Tokyo is sixteen hours ahead, I have the opportunity to watch tomorrow's Oha Asa so I can prepare for it. By the way, tomorrow's lucky item for Cancers is a bell pepper."

"You better be buying one with your own money then."

The waiter returned to their tables with notebook in hand.

" _Hey, guys. My name is Chris and I'll be serving you this evening,_ " he said. " _Would you like to start off with drinks or are you ready to order?_ "

" _We'll get drinks for now,_ " said Shuuzo, he turned to the rest of them. "Tell him what you want to drink." Shōgo leaned forward and gave the waiter a sly grin.

" _I'll get a beer- AUGH!_ "

He glared at Shuuzo as he began rubbing the spot on his forehead where he was flicked.

" _He'll have a Fanta,_ " Shuuzo said, glaring right back at the ashen-haired boy. The man went to scribbling in his notebook.

" _Fanta got it. What would the rest of you like to drink?_ " He got everyone else's requests from them and took note of all the orders in his notebook and nodded in confirmation.

" _Okay, I'll just take these orders over to the kitchen and I'll be right back with drinks._ "

...

After getting drinks and then ordering their food, the gang began eating and chattering amongst themselves. It was only after they had been eating for five minutes that they all heard whispering around them. Shuuzo put his fork down.

"Ah? Do you guys hear that?"

Everyone looked up from their plates and turned their heads towards the whispering and realized that everyone in their vicinity was staring at a woman who just entered the room.

"Who is that woman everyone is staring at?" Tetsuya asked. Taiga's eyes widened.

"Wait a second...no way..." Everyone's eyes were on Taiga looking at his expression.

"What is it?"

"That woman, she's..."

Looking back at the woman sitting at a table near them, she had beach blonde hair wearing a black sleeveless top and tight black jeans with some high heels. Her face was most recognizable by the black mascara and pink lipstick she was wearing. No one could miss that face, it was seen all over television after all.

"It's Britney Spears..." Taiga whispered. Shōgo quirked a brow as he sipped his soda.

"Britney Spears?" he repeated.

"Shhhhh! Not so loud!" Taiga hissed. "She might hear you."

"By Britany Spears," Seijuro began "Do you mean the famous music artist Britney Spears?"

"Yes, that's her! I can't believe she's next to our table!"

"Oi Taiga, are you serious?" Daiki asked. "She's a famous singer?"

"Yeah, she's famous everywhere. Everyone just be cool and-" he looked to see that the seat next to Chihiro was empty. "Hey, where's Seijuro?"

" _I like your shirt, sweetie._ "

" _Britney, you're too kind._ "

Taiga's froze and his eyes went back towards the celebrity sitting at the table and realized that she was talking to a boy. Specifically speaking, a boy with a blue Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts. Even more specific than that, she was talking with Seijuro. And Seijuro had absolutely no problem with chatting with her. If Taiga's jaw could hit the floor, it would. He was so shocked at the sight before him that someone had to wave a hand in front of his face to snap him out of it.

"Wh-What the hell is he doing?!"

The whole family watched in shock as Seijuro continued to chat with the celebrity, not noticing Taiga's apparent anxiety.

" _Are you here with your family?_ " Britney asked.

" _Yes,_ " Seijuro replied. " _I am here with my brothers and my cousins._ "

" _How nice! You don't sound like you're from here. Where are you from?_ "

" _I'm from Japan._ "

" _Wow, Japan is really far from here. Your accent is really cute._ "

" _Thank you very much._ "

"I cannot believe this is happening," said Shuuzo as they watched from their seats. "He is actually talking with _the_ Britney Spears, and he didn't even hesitate to walk up to her."

"That's my Sei-chan," Reo boasted, looking like a proud mother. "Charming even the most famous celebrities." Speaking of which, Britney noticed the stares of the other thirteen and smiled.

" _Oh! Is this your family?_ " she asked. Seijuro nodded.

" _Yes, that is them_ ," he replied. He turned back to his family. "Everyone, go on and introduce yourselves."

They all hesitantly looked from Seijuro back to Britney Spears and nervously gave her their names one by one.

" _You all have pretty names,_ " she said. " _You sure don't get names like that around here._ "

" _So I've heard,_ " said Seijuro. " _Have you come here by yourself, Britney?_ "

" _You would be correct in saying that,_ " she said. " _I thought I'd just eat something before heading out to this party I was meant to go to._ "

" _Party?_ "

" _Yeah, there's this nightclub in town where one of my friends is having a party. Anyone is welcome to join in._ "

" _Anyone?_ "

" _Yep! Anyone can join in on the fun. Whoever comes into the nightclub is more than welcome to party with us... You up for it?_ "

" _Am I up for it?_ " He glanced at his family members before smirking.

" _Is that even a question?_ "

* * *

 **I don't even know what happened, I literally planned this like 3 months ago. But yeah, what will happen to the basketball idiots now that they're tangling with the stars? Find out next time here on Mini Adventures! Until then, you know what to do...**

 **Read and review please!**


	29. Idiots on vacation- Get crazy

**Hello! I am back! Sorry, I had a lot of things to do this past few weeks and it got crazy.**

 **Before I begin, I thought I might inform you that I am literally getting ready right now to go on vacation for three weeks. I might be able to update, or I might not. Just telling you now.**

 **Secondly, this isn't even important but omg I got into my fucking firm choice for university and I am literally shaking as I type this. I thought I would update today just to celebrate. It's a bit short for a chapter but meh. At least I did something.**

 **Please enjoy!**

* * *

Idiots on vacation- Get crazy

Hollywood is the land of fame and fortune, so running into a celebrity was to be expected. Albeit, an uncommon occurrence, but expected all the same. What was _not_ expected was to be invited to a party by a celebrity for someone whom they don't know, which is how the gang ended up in a random nightclub in the middle of L.A. after Britney showed them to the place and disappeared into the crowd. As they all walked through the entrance, they were immediately bombarded with loud music and dancing, and the sight of the whole club before them overwhelmed them all. Taiga gulped.

"This is…" he began, fumbling for words. The rest of the family looked at him.

"Amazing?" Daiki said.

"Awesome?" Shōgo suggested.

"Actually what I was going for was ABSOLUTELY INSANE!" Taiga shouted. "Why are we here?!"

"Obviously to party!" said Ryouta. "We got asked by a celebrity to come here, who in their right mind wouldn't take up the offer-ssu?"

"I would!" he retorted. "I know L.A.; this place could be sketchy. I can feel it in my bones."

"What makes you think that this place is sketchy?" Tetsuya asked. Taiga stared at him incredulously.

"What kind of question is that?!" he exclaimed. "We're in some seedy obscure nightclub that has no bouncers and weird people all around. Not to mention nobody here seems to notice that a bunch of middle-schoolers walked up in here. Yeah, sure, some of us can get away with height, but no offense Tetsuya, you look more like a kid than us."

"While that may be true, no one can see me anyway, Taiga-kun," Tetsuya said, rolling his eyes. "I don't see the problem here."

"I'm just saying, this is freaking crazy! Not to mention here everyone here is drinking! Don't you know the legal age here is twenty-one? Not even Shuuzo-san can drink! Hell, he can't even drink in Japan! And don't even get me started on the rest of us, who still have to wait seven years before we do as much as touch a bottle of alcohol."

"I'm surprised you're so concerned, Tai-chan," Reo said, raising his eyebrows at the anxious teenager.

"Yeah," Eikichi chimed. "Even if we're not legal, don't a lot of people your age do underage drinking?"

"This and that are two different things!" Taiga cried. "It's one thing to do it in your house, but it's a whole different thing to do it in public! What if we're caught?!"

"By whom exactly?" Seijuro asked. "I don't believe anyone seems to have a problem with us being here, so let's just enjoy our night. We have nothing better to do anyway. Even Shintarou is silent, and he's usually the wet blanket in our group."

"I heard that."

"Besides," Seijuro continued, waving off the irritated Shooting Guard. "Nobody's forcing us to drink or smoke or anything. You don't have to anything that you don't feel comfortable doing. Just relax a bit." Taiga took a deep breath.

"Fine, we can stay," he sighed. "But if anything happens we better go back to the hotel."

"Since when are you the responsible one around here?" said Shuuzo, grabbing his shoulder. "You think I haven't lived here too? Calm down, I can handle you brats. For now, though, let's just check the place out to see if it's even worth staying here in the first place."

And so began their scope of the nightclub they came into. It was pretty weird, seeing all these people in their early to mid-twenties just hanging out with each other. There were quite a few people on the dancefloor as well. To sort of calm his nerves a bit about the place, Taiga just decided to shed his inhibitions for the time being by dragging everyone to the dancefloor. Perhaps they could just dance their way into forgetting about the rest of the people there.

"Hm. I'm surprised we don't stick out like a sore thumb here," said Satsuki.

"Well can you blame us?" said Chihiro. "Everyone here is tipsy at the very least. Multicolored hair is probably normal to them at this point."

"Fair point. I've seen a lot of people with pink hair on the streets…"

"What are we meant to be doing right now?" Atsushi drawled. "I wanna go sit down."

"At least dance a bit!" Kotarou said. "It'll be fun!"

"Yeah. I can at least promise you that American music is good," Shuuzo said, taking note of the song being played at the moment. It was 'Freaks' by French Montana. No wonder everyone was so hype on the dancefloor.

"So, how exactly _do_ you dance?" Daiki said. "Oi Taiga, you've been here longer than all of us, so you should give us some pointers on how to dance to this stuff." Taiga scratched his head.

"I dunno," he said after a while. "You just sorta…do it."

"Hah? What kind of explanation is that?"

"Shut up! It's just hard to put in words…" Taiga's no dancing superstar, that's for sure. But he at least knew a few moves. In his elementary school in America, for the couple years he was there, he hung out with a lot of kids who spent their free time having breakdancing competitions out on the playground, so he picked up on a few things. Just a few. Not anything he could teach them, though…

"I guess all you can do really is just feel the beat of the music," he said at last. "Just do whatever comes to you. If it's really that hard, just move from side to side. Or—just look to whatever everyone else is doing and copy that." The group looked over to some of the couples on the floor who were busy grinding on each other and Taiga's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets.

"Except that." he cut in. "Don't—don't do that."

Suddenly the song abruptly stopped and the DJ near the back of the club began speaking through the microphone.

" _Alright, alright ladies and gentlemen we're gonna get a bit old-school up in here._ "

With a scratch of the disc and a change of the track, a different song began to play from the speakers.

 _This is something new, the Casper slide part two, featuring the platinum band. And this time, we're gonna get funky!_

Without warning, the entire club went ballistic and began cheering at the song started, and almost everyone in the group was confused.

"Hm? What's all the commotion?" Seijuro asked. Shuuzo began chuckling.

"Heh. So they decided to play this song, eh?"

"What song?" Shōgo grunted. "What is this?"

"The Cha Cha Slide, of course."

"The what?"

"The Cha Cha Slide," Taiga repeated. "Everyone knows this song here. It's kind of an American thing."

"So I guess we're kinda out of the loop then, huh?" said Ryouta.

"Well not entirely," said Taiga. "If you just listen out for the steps in the song and dance along, you'll fit right in."

"There are steps?" said Eikichi. "What are they?"

"Just follow our lead, everyone."

From there, Taiga and Shuuzo ended up teaching the rest of them how to do the Cha Cha Slide to pass time on the dancefloor. It was a bit difficult at first for them, since there were a lot of things that the song was telling them to do, but then they figured out the pattern was repetitive, so they realized they'd have to go 'to the left' and 'take it back now y'all' and 'cha cha real smooth' pretty often. Although they sort of had to watch what everyone else was doing when the song called out moves like 'Charlie Brown' (What even was that? And who was Charlie?) Not to mention the unnecessary excitement when the entire floor of people shouted ' _FREEZE! Everybody clap your hands!_ ' But they had fun all the same. So much fun poking fun at each other's dance skills and showing off that they didn't even realize that the song finished. But that didn't stop them from dancing. The DJ kept playing more throwbacks, and Taiga and Shuuzo ended up teaching them how to do other dances, like the Cupid Shuffle and the Electric Slide. Honestly, if you looked at it, it was probably the most embarrassing thing to watch, but they didn't care. On the bright side, they were finally settling down into the party atmosphere. By the fifth song, they were all tired (and a bit sweaty) they went to go sit down somewhere. Shuuzo heaved out a sigh as he hit the chair.

"Man I'm exhausted," he panted. "It's such a chore to teach you people how to move on a dancefloor. Remind me to enroll all of you for dance lessons when we get back."

"I don't know about you, but _my_ dancing was fine," said Daiki. "It was Atsushi who kept tripping me up."

"Ara? It's because Shin-chin wouldn't move," Atsushi complained.

"There wasn't anywhere to move to begin with, nodayo," Shintarou huffed. "Do you know how crowded that floor was? I could barely breathe."

"Ugh, I'm so thirsty," said Eikichi. "Is there anything to drink around here?"

"Over there is a food table," said Chihiro pointing to a corner of the club. "I think they have fruit punch in those bowls."

The fourteen of them went over to the table and each took cups and poured themselves a drink. The fruit punch was pretty good, meaning one cup was not enough, and they ended up staying there for quite some time pouring themselves drink after drink from the large bowl. As they all savored the fruity taste and went for more, they didn't realize what a mistake they had made.

When you drink fruit punch at a club, ask what's in it before you put it in your mouth.

~O~

They were naïve. They were too naïve to think that nothing would happen to them at this nightclub. It would have been wise to assume that it wasn't just ordinary fruit punch they drank. Now, they had made a grave error in judgment, and they couldn't take it back. The fourteen of them. Were officially. Wasted.

The events that followed shortly after were a blur to them. But somehow this is the order it went in:

Atsushi and Eikichi suddenly became hungrier than ever and went to go devour the rest of the food table.

Ryouta joined into the karaoke on the other side of the club with some other strangers.

Shintarou had found a woman just as obsessed with horoscopes as he was, and he'd been busy chatting it up with her since.

Chihiro ran into some aspiring author and they were already exchanging numbers.

Kotarou, Shuuzo, and Taiga were busting moves on the dance floor.

While all this was happening, Seijuro and Reo somehow found their way into the V.I.P. section, enjoying the life of luxury surrounded by attractive women.

" _Your eyes are so pretty. Are they contacts?_ "

" _Actually no, I was born with these eyes._ "

" _Are you serious?_ "

Seijuro was busy chatting with a few of the women around him while sipping on a glass of champagne (where he got it from, no one knows) with Reo to his immediate right, sipping his own glass of champagne (seriously, where the hell did those come from?) The models were busy gawking over the fourteen year old's hair, as he sat in the middle, basking in all the glory.

" _I can't believe that this is your natural eye color,_ " a woman said. " _Reo, you said you're his older brother? Were you always aware of how beautiful his eyes were?_ "

" _But of course,_ " said Reo in his lilted accent. " _They're just as beautiful as you._ " The woman blushed and laughed.

" _Oh stop it, you're too kind._ " The second Reo puts an alcoholic drink into his system, he becomes the biggest flirt known to man. It didn't matter if you were a boy, a girl, or a goddamn fire hydrant. When Reo was drunk, _nobody_ escaped his clutches. The ladies were all over him as he continued to compliment them. Seijuro was just enjoying his own time in the V.I.P. section, while the men who were there looked on in jealousy and rage that two teenagers could pick up chicks better than them. On the other side, Satsuki felt herself being cornered as five strange men approached her.

" _I told you no!_ " she cried. " _I don't want to come with you!_ "

" _Come on, it's just for a little bit,_ " one of the guys said.

" _Yeah,_ " another one said. " _Why don't you spin around and smile for us?_ "

" _No way! Tetsu-kun heeeeelp!_ " The guys stopped and furrowed their eyebrows in confusion.

" _Tetsu-kun?_ " the man repeated. " _Who the fuck is Tetsu-kun?_ "

" _Did someone call?_ "

" _SON OF A—_ " The men shrunk back when the teal-haired boy appeared out of nowhere with a blank expression.

" _Is there a problem here?_ " The men cowered back and looked at him in fear.

" _Holy shit it's a ghost!_ "

" _Everybody run!_ "

The five of them retreated with their tails between their legs, leaving Tetsuya and Satsuki standing there. She threw her arms around him.

"Thanks, Tetsu-kuuuun~!"

"I can't breathe, Satsuki-san."

" _Oops, I did it again. I played with your heart got lost in the game. Oh baby, baby._ "

" _Oops, you think I'm in love, got sent from aboooove, I'm not that innocent!_ "

Ryouta was busy singing karaoke with Britney in the other corner while everyone cheered them on. Most people were busy taking videos on their phone while they kept singing. Other things that were happening was that Daiki was getting attention from a few big-chested women after saving them from another pervy guy. Shōgo was the pervy guy. Eikichi was busy eating whatever was on the food table that he hadn't demolished yet while Atsushi was busy dunking his head into the chocolate fountain. People were cheering for Taiga, Kotarou, and Shuuzo, who were the joint winners of the dance competition. As for what Tetsuya was doing…

" _Hey kid, you're pretty cool!_ "

" _Show us your guns, Tetsuya!_ "

" _Oh, you mean,_ " Tetsuya flexed his arms. " _These?_ "

The whole club went wild.

As Reo and Seijuro watched their family cause mayhem from the safety of the V.I.P area, they clinked their glasses together.

"Tis a good life we lead, Reo-nii-san." Reo nodded.

"I most definitely agree."

* * *

 **Okay I have to make final checks of my bag so I'll be going now. My flight is fourteen hours today. But until I update, you know what to do...**

 **Read and review please!**


	30. Idiots on vacation- Retracing steps

**Oh my God I FINALLY got back to this.**

 **Hello! I'm so sorry I didn't update sooner, I left you on a rather disturbing note and I realised this only a few days ago. So I'm back with the next part. To all who got confused by last chapter, I warned you this was complete stupidity didn't I? Y'all know what you're getting into.**

 **Anyway I'm on holiday as we speak in Guangzhou, China. I was in Nigeria visiting relatives for a week starting from the 18th and was there until Friday. I'm jetlagged as hell. But here I am writing. I got three hours of sleep finsihing this up this morning, so you're welcome.**

 **Anyway, you're not here for my incessant chattering, so allow me to introduce to you the next chapter.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Idiots on vacation- Retracing steps

The fourteen of them woke up the next morning sprawled out in different strange positions. Ryouta and Shōgo were back to back on the arm chair in the corner and were on the verge of falling off; Atsushi was sprawled out on the bed right on top of Shintarou, who was turning an unusual shade of purple from the suffocation; Tetsuya and Satsuki were lying next to each other over the covers just near Taiga and Daiki, who were cuddling disturbingly similar to a couple for some odd reason, (Taiga was the little spoon if you were interested); Seijuro and Reo were in the other double bed, somehow unaffected by the whole sleeping arrangement and in their usual sleeping positions, Seijuro clinging to Reo as if his life depended on it, Reo lying on his back, looking somewhat peaceful. Kotarou and Eikichi were straight up on the floor, Kotarou lying across Eikichi's chest, Eikichi drooling the river Nile on the carpet. Chihiro, who was sleeping at the foot of Seijuro and Reo's bed, cracked his eyes open and groaned as he sat up.

"What...what the fuck..." he mumbled. He looked over to the rest of his sleeping relatives and stood up, shaking them back to consciousness.

"Wake up. Wake up, guys," he said. Everyone soon opened their eyes and looked around at each other as they sat up in bed. Eikichi grunted in pain as he shoved Kotarou off of him.

"Ugh, my back is killing me," he complained. Taiga woke up and looked back at the body pressed up to his back, then promptly scrunched up his face in disgust.

"Gross! Get off of me!" he cried. He threw Daiki off the bed, causing the other to fall flat on his face. Daiki scrambled to get up and he glared at the Power Forward.

"What the hell did you shove me off the bed for?!" he yelled.

"You know damn well why! Keep your hands to yourself, you pervert!"

"What? What are you talking about?!" Atsushi opened bleary eyes and blinked tiredly.

"Mmm...this mattress is awfully lumpy," he drawled. A pale shaky hand rose up from under him.

"Atsushi," Shintarou wheezed. "If you don't get off of me I'm going to pass out, nanodayo..."

"Hmm? Oh, sorry Shin-chin~."

He heaved himself up and rolled over, Shintarou finally rising from the bed and gasping for air as his face returned to his original colour. Reo woke up and looking down at Seijuro, letting loose a small chuckle.

"Ara, Sei-chan. Were you that lonely?"

"Wha...?"

Seijuro opened his eyes and realised he was clinging onto his older brother before promptly turning bright red and releasing his grip.

"This means nothing, it was an unconscious action."

"Oh sure~ it's not like you do this practically every other week at home." Seijuro glowered at Reo's smug expression and Shōgo started snickering.

"Oooooh, so suggestive," Shōgo laughed. Suddenly a shoe smacked into his face and he was doubling over in pain on the floor. A devious smile slipped across Seijuro's face as he watched Shōgo writhe around on the floor.

"Oops, my hand slipped."

"You bastard! You did that on purpose!" Shōgo growled as Ryouta was laughing at the red shoe mark in the centre of his face.

"Ano, where is Shuuzo-san?" Tetsuya asked. Satsuki looked around.

"Oh yeah, Shuuzo-san isn't here. Where did he go?"

"Uh guys?"

Everyone looked toward the bathroom door, where Kotarou and Eikichi were peering in with confusion.

"Er—I think we found Shuuzo..." Eikichi said, pointing into the bathroom. Everyone got up and made their way into the bathroom, where they saw Shuuzo passed out in the bathtub. A few of them started giggling.

"Oh my God, this is too good," said Daiki, already pulling out his phone and snapping some pictures. Chihiro sighed.

"Well, we better wake him up."

"No wait, stop!" Shōgo hissed. Chihiro put his hand down and eyed the ashen-haired boy.

"What?"

"I think I have a better way to wake him up."

"Is this 'better way to wake him up' gonna get you murdered?"

"Probably. But hey, you only live once, amiright? Daiki, start filming. Everyone else, watch the master at work." Everyone exchanged looks with each other before standing back as Daiki hit the record button. Shōgo smirked as he walked over to the shower faucet and flipped it on. Suddenly water was spurting out of the shower head and directly onto the unconscious form of Shuuzo's body down below. It didn't take any time at all for Shuuzo to open his eyes and shoot up.

"AAAHH! MAKE IT STOP! IT'S FUCKING FREEZING!"

Everyone was trying so hard not to stifle their laughter as Shuuzo shielded his eyes from the spray of water and he stumbled out of the tub soaking wet and fuming hot at the same time. But as soon as they saw the look on his face, they immediately stopped.

"Alright," he growled, dark aura surrounding him. "Which one of you little shits thought it was funny to turn on the shower?"

Twelve fingers immediately pointed to Shōgo. He laughed nervously as he began to back out of the bathroom.

"Funny thing about that y'see," he said nervously. "I believe my explanation for why I did it can be found up there." He pointed to the ceiling, making Shuuzo quirk an eyebrow.

"Hah? What are you on about?" He looked up to the ceiling and saw nothing. When he looked back down, Shōgo was already creeping out of the bathroom. "OI! GET BACK HERE SHŌGO!"

He chased him out through the door, making everyone shake their heads as the two began to tear up the bedroom. What a morning this was.

~O~

After the rambunctious wake up call, the fourteen of them sat down in the room, eyes focused on Shuuzo as he cleared his throat.

"Okay," he began. "This is fine and all that we're back at the hotel safe, but what the hell happened last night? I don't remember anything at all."

"I remember TGIs," said Taiga. "And then Britney Spears, and then the nightclub, and then the Cha Cha Slide...but that's all I remember." Everyone nodded and murmured in agreement.

"That's all I remember too," said Ryouta. "The last thing I remember is getting some fruit punch-ssu."

"Same here," said Daiki.

"I second that," said Eikichi. Everyone else nodded. Shuuzo furrowed his brows.

"I don't get it," he said. "How do all of us not remember anything after drinking fruit punch?"

"What exactly was in that punch, nanodayo?" said Shintarou.

"If it's like anything I've experienced, it probably had alcohol in it," Seijuro answered. "I can't believe that we didn't ask what was in the punch before drinking it."

"But that makes sense, doesn't it?" said Reo. "It explains why we all seem to have a memory gap."

"But how did we get home?" said Chihiro. "Did we walk? Did we take a bus? Or is there some taxi driver out for my blood because I didn't pay the fare?"

"I seriously don't remember getting back at all," Kotarou laughed. "I mean, look at us! None of us even remembered to change into our pyjamas!"

"This doesn't make any sense though," said Shuuzo. "Even though we've filled in some blanks, there's still a huge whole in the big picture. And since none of us have any recollection of what happened, no matter how many times we try and put two and two together, we still end up getting three." Everyone frowned. It can't be possible to have no lead to follow on. But there must be something they're missing. If they were to figure out what happened last night, they were gonna have to pull a Scooby Doo and solve this mystery. Suddenly, Tetsuya perked up. Shuuzo lifted an eyebrow.

"What's up, Tetsuya? You figured something out?"

"Well not necessarily, but I do have a suggestion," he said. "Why don't we all try checking our phones? Maybe there's some pictures or videos from last night."

"Ohhhh! Good idea, Tetsu!"

"Tetsu-kun is so smart!"

"As expected of Tetsuyacchi!" Shuuzo stroked his chin as he hummed in thought.

"Sounds like a plan," he said. "Everyone take out your cell phones. Look through your photos, videos, phone contacts and all social media sites you have an account on. We need to get to the bottom of this so we can find out how concerned I should be on a scale of one to ten."

From there, everybody grabbed their cellphones from their pockets and began searching. Shuuzo was at first only vaguely concerned, but when a severely bewildered Seijuro reached to get his phone and stumbled upon several hundred dollar bills in his back pockets, he really began to worry that they did something bad and that it was only a matter of time before the police came knocking on their door. They began checking every social media site there was, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and they even went as far as MySpace. Suddenly Atsushi's eyes widened as he began tapping Shuuzo on the shoulder.

"Shuu-chiiiiin, I found something." Everyone immediately dropped what they were doing and stared at him before rushing over.

"Eh? You found something?"

"Good job, Atsushi!"

"What is it?!"

Atsushi looked down at his phone. "It's a video," he replied. Shuuzo jolted.

"A video?! When did you take a video?"

"I didn't," Atsushi replied, putting a lollipop in his mouth. "This is on Facebook." Shuuzo went deathly pale.

"Oh my God," he said, burying his face in his hands. "We're on the Internet. This can't be good."

"Do you want to watch it, Shuu-chin?" The black-haired teenager took a deep breath before running his hands through his hair.

"Alright," he said. "Just hurry up and play it so I can have a heart attack and die of shock."

Atsushi pressed play on the video, and everyone gathered around as the purple Centre put it to full screen. When the video began playing, it was showing the dance floor on the nightclub. Whoever was filming behind what seemed to be a camera phone began to speak.

" _Right, so I'm gonna show you something crazy,_ " he said in English. " _The V.I.P section is running wild with all these rainbow haired kids running around, and they've caused quite a big fuss over there. Lemme show you what's going on._ " The camera suddenly began to move, and it was going off the dance floor and toward the V.I.P. section near the back of the club. When he went past the velvet rope, he put the camera back up, and suddenly it showed all of them running around and shouting.

"Hey, that's us!" Shuuzo exclaimed as he pointed to the video.

The video showed Seijuro, sitting on a sofa in the V.I.P. section surrounded by women while he was holding a champagne glass. The redhead looked confused.

"Is that...is that me?" he said. "What am I doing?"

" _Hey kid,_ " the cameraman in the video called to Seijuro. " _What're you doing?_ " Seijuro looked up from whatever he was doing, and suddenly everyone watching the video got a good look at his face. His face was flushed, but his expression was focused and sharp toward the man filming. And was it them, or did his left eye look kind of funny?

" _You dare speak to me without my permission?_ " Seijuro growled in lilted (or was it slurred?) English. He threw his champagne at the person behind the camera, the fourteen of them hearing a distinctive splash in the background as they continued to watch the video. " _On your knees, you lowly peasant._ " Reo gasped at the video.

"Sei-chan!" he cried out in shock. "That's not how you behave towards people." Seijuro put a hand on his head as he tried to ignore the fact that his face was most definitely rivalling the colour of a tomato by this point.

"I didn't know what I was doing," he mumbled in embarrassment. "I didn't realise I was this bad when intoxicated."

The camera in the video was lowered, they assumed the cameraman did as he was told and went on his knees. And by the looks of Seijuro's smug face in the video, that just proved their suspicions.

" _So you_ can _follow orders,_ " Seijuro said. " _That's good. At least I don't have to break you._ "

" _Can I go please?_ " they heard the guy say. Seijuro hummed in thought.

" _I suppose you can...on one condition._ "

" _Which is..._ "

" _Say that I'm your emperor._ "

" _...The fuck?_ " the guy said after a long pause. " _I'm not saying that._ " Suddenly a pair of scissors flew past his head and into the wall behind him. The fourteen of them started hearing heavy breathing from the video.

" _Ah, clumsy me,_ " Seijuro said, an eerie smile on his face. " _Scissors can be so slippery..._ "

" _Okay, okay! Jesus, kid, I'll say it!_ " Seijuro sat back down and crossed his legs.

" _Go on._ " There was a long sigh.

" _You...are my emperor..._ " Seijuro smiled.

" _That wasn't so hard, was it?_ "

"Seijuro-kun. Who is this? Your new slave?" Tetsuya appeared right next to Seijuro in the video, sipping a vanilla milkshake in a large glass. Seijuro turned his attention toward the teal-haired phantom.

"Oh, Tetsuya. It's just a commoner who strolled in. Did you need something?"

"Yes, actually. Atsushi-kun is drowning in chocolate." The cameraman took the opportunity to shift the camera to the food table, which showed Atsushi's lifeless body face-first in the chocolate fountain. As the camera rotated around the room, there was Ryouta and Satsuki singing for people at the bar, Daiki and Shōgo were jumping up and down on the tables, Shintarou was reading the palms of some stranger, Eikichi was still eating, Reo was busy flirting with more women, Kotarou, Taiga and Shuuzo were doing a crazy dance of some sort to whatever the hell song was playing on the speakers, and Chihiro was passed out in the corner with a novel covering his face. The camera rose up from the floor again and slowly began inching towards the exit, the cameraman mumbling something that most definitely sounded like ' _I'm getting the hell out of here_ '. As it did, it turned back to Seijuro raising several hundred dollar bills in the air and shouting " _Drinks on me!_ " as the V.I.P. section started cheering. Then the video cut off and the screen went black, leaving the fourteen of them in complete shock.

"Oh...my...God," Shuuzo said after thirty seconds of silence. "What the hell happened last night?"

"Well it wasn't that bad," Kotarou. "It's not like we tried to kill anyone."

"Well, not all of us, at least," Chihiro said, eyeing Seijuro. "Let's just hope that this is the worst of it."

"Wait, hang on," said Ryouta. "There are numbers in my contact list that I don't recognise."

"Yeah, mine too," said Taiga.

"Same," said Daiki.

"Quick, one of you pick one of those numbers and call it to see who it is," said Shuuzo. "And put the phone on speaker." Daiki went first and took a random number from his contacts and dialled it. The phone rang once, twice, and then someone picked up.

"They answered!" Satsuki whispered. "Hurry up and answer, Dai-chan!"

" _Um, hello?_ " he said.

" _Hey Daiki, is that you?_ " someone said from the other line. Daiki blinked.

" _Uh, yeah,_ " he said warily. " _Who's, um...who's number is this?_ "

" _It's me, Magic, remember? We were talking last night about basketball. You should come by for a one-on-one sometime!_ "

" _M-M-M-Magic?!_ " he stammered. He put his hand over the phone and looked toward his cousins with his eyes so wide they nearly came out of their sockets.

"Guys! I have freaking Magic Johnson's number!" he whispered hurriedly. "How did I end up with his number?!"

"That's Magic?" Taiga said incredulously. "That's so cool man!"

"Daiki-kun, he's still on the phone."

"Oh shit yeah!" He took his hand off the phone and cleared his throat. " _Yeah, we'll play some basketball soon._ "

" _Awesome. Call me when you wanna hook up. I'll talk to you later._ "

" _Y-Yeah...bye._ " The line cut and Daiki suddenly sunk to the floor, his face in his hands as he basically short-circuited.

"You okay there, buddy?" Shōgo said, raising a brow at the blue-haired teenager. Daiki inhaled sharply.

"You don't know how happy I am right now." he said. "I got friendly with an NBA superstar. That's freaking crazy!" Seijuro looked over at Taiga, who was currently sulking.

"Are you jealous, Taiga?"

"No, I'm not," Taiga grumbled, sounding clearly jealous. Seijuro chuckled.

"It's okay. You can share Magic with Daiki."

"I want my own NBA player to hang with, thank you." Suddenly his phone rang and he looked at the caller ID. It was a number he didn't recognise, but nevertheless, he pressed the answer button and held it up to his ear.

" _Hello?_ "

" _Taiga, my man! It's Chris Bosch. You still up for the beach the day after tomorrow?_ " Taiga audibly sputtered, causing everyone to look at him as he summoned up all the energy he had to prevent himself from throwing the equivalent of an epileptic fit.

"What is it, Taiga-kun?"

"CHRIS BOSCH IS ON THE OTHER LINE!" he shouted. "WHAT THE HELL WHAT THE HELL WHAT THE HELL WHAT THE—"

"He can hear you, dumbass," Shuuzo said, rolling his eyes. Taiga composed himself the best he could and went back on the line.

" _Yeah that sounds great!_ " he said, fighting down the urge to jump up and down.

" _Cool,_ " said Chris. " _I'll probably be there. Hope to see you man._ "

" _Yeah...see you._ " His own line cut and he wobbled slightly from the shock as he put a hand on the table to steady himself.

"Somebody needs to pinch me because I must be dreaming," he said. Shōgo was about to, but Shuuzo slapped his hand away.

"I think that's enough phone calls for today before somebody faints on us," said Shuuzo.

"So what do we do now?" Reo asked.

"I think it would be best to just pretend that last night didn't happen," said Shuuzo. "We still have six days left here, so we should just carry on like we didn't fuck around with half of Hollywood. Everyone go back to your rooms and get ready, let's go for a walk around town."

~O~

After taking a shower and changing into different clothes finally, the fourteen of them exited the hotel and went downtown to explore for a bit. Looking at all the American shops proved to be quite entertaining. They were in a souvenir shop looking at the merchandise.

"Hmm, what do you think? Purple or pink?" Ryouta said to Seijuro as he held up two hoodies.

"Neither," Daiki said as he breezed past. "You look gay in both colours."

"These aren't for me, Daikicchi," Ryouta pouted. "My older sisters asked me to get them souvenirs and I'm trying to pick something out for them. And I'll have you know that I'd look good in both colours, so there!"

"You really don't."

"Ugh! I've had enough of you, Daikicchi! Go read a magazine-ssu!"

"Keh. Whatever."

Daiki sauntered up to the magazine shelf in search of something interesting to read when something caught his eye. Something that made him turn a concerning shade of white. Seijuro noticed his mortified expression.

"Is something the matter, Daiki?" The blue-haired teenager pointed a shaky finger to one of the magazines on the shelf. Seijuro and Ryouta walked over and looked to where he was pointing to. And just like that, their faces changed as well to an expression of pure horror.

"Oh no..."

There, on the front cover of the magazine, was a picture of all of them with various titles and articles under their photo. Seijuro swallowed before opening his mouth again.

"Um, Shuuzo-san?"

"Yeah? What's up?"

"I think everyone might want to see this."

"Is it important?"

"Oh believe me, it is."

The family gathered 'round in front of the magazines and looked at what Seijuro was talking about. They all gasped when they saw their faces on the front covers. Shuuzo's mouth flew open as he stared at it in disbelief.

"I knew it," he said at last. "I knew we hadn't seen the worst of it. We're on a goddamn MAGAZINE. I'm officially dead."

"Seriously, what the hell did we do last night?" said Chihiro. "How did we end up on the cover of a magazine?"

"What does it say, anyway?" Shōgo asked. Shuuzo looked down at the article titles.

"Mysterious teenagers cause uproar in local night club," he read from the top. "Rainbow haired kids take the club by storm see page ten for more details." The younger members of the group promptly seized the magazine and began flipping through. They became more and more confused as they read the titles out loud.

 _The killer solo experience at the karaoke bar!_

 _They came, they saw, they conquered! Atsushi and Eikichi share their story of how they dominated the food table!_

 _They got the moves like Jagger! The epic dance battle between Kotarou, Shuuzo and Taiga!_

 _Popular zodiac man tells fortunes to patrons in the nightclub!_

 _A longtime basketball junkie mixes with Magic Johnson. Get a load of this blue-haired kid!_

 _Mr. Suave is in the building! Who is the black-haired charmer that enchanted every single woman in the night club?_

 _Look at his guns! Ghost like boy scares off thugs and becomes the hero of the night!_

 _A night in the life of a bad boy!_

 _Pretty in pink Primma Donna is the eye candy of the night!_

 _Ice cold personality but a burning passion for literature! The aspiring author of the decade!_

 _Yakuza? Definitely Yakuza. The red headed godfather rules the entire V.I.P. section!_

"EEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH?!"

"How?! Why?!" Taiga cried. "Where did they get all of this information!"

"There's information on everyone in this magazine!" said Eikichi.

"This is insane!" Kotarou shouted.

"What the actual fuck is this?" said Shōgo. "They talk about everything in here. Were they stalking us or something?" Chihiro's eyes lit up.

"Hang on, what is the name of the magazine?"

"Why? Subscriptions are like $10.99 a month and they don't mail that shit to Japan."

"What—no, I don't want to subscribe just gimme the magazine." Shōgo handed it over and Chihiro checked the front cover.

"Star magazine...?" he read. "Oh my God, what are the odds..."

"What is it, Chihiro-nii-san?"

"This writer I was talking to yesterday in the night clubs, he said he writes for a magazine and that he was looking for some material to work with. And he told me that the magazine he writes for is called Star magazine. I can't believe I didn't think anything of it. That's how these articles are so detailed. He must have been watching us, but we were all too wasted to notice."

"Sooooo what now?" said Daiki. "What should we do?"

"There's nothing we can do," said Shuuzo. "It's already published, so now we're basically like pseudo-celebrities now."

A man who walked into the shop made his way towards the magazines on the shelf and picked up the same magazine that Shuuzo was holding before reading the front cover. Then, he froze in his tracks as he eyed the picture, and then the people standing in front of him, before something in his head clicked.

" _Hey! You're the people on the magazine cover!_ "

Suddenly, everyone in the store stopped what they were doing and turned toward the fourteen of them. Before they knew it, the entire store was surrounding them, going wild at the fact that they were in the same room as famous people. Soon enough they were asked for photos and autographs, and it got so bad that they had to book it. Leaving all the merchandise in the store, the fourteen of them ran out onto the street, where they ducked into the nearest alleyway out of sight. They stood and tried to catch their breath. Shuuzo peered out from behind the wall.

"Okay," he panted. "What the hell was that about?"

"Who knows?" said Seijuro. "As soon as they realised we were on the magazine, they went wild."

"American people are scary, nanodayo," said Shintarou. "One of the women in the shop tried to take my lucky item."

"You should've let her," Shōgo grumbled. "If you keep carrying around that stuffed bunny toy then I'd sooner get rid of it myself."

"I didn't even get to check out the American candy yet," Atsushi pouted. "Can we go back, Shuu-chin?"

"Hell no!" he said. "I'm not gonna be ripped apart by crazy fans. We'll try a different store and hope we don't get spotted. Come on."

While they wanted to go to a different store to shop, things didn't exactly go to plan. Because as soon as they stepped out of the alleyway, more and more people began to recognise them.

" _Hey! It's those kids from the magazine!_ "

" _Can you sign my phone case?_ "

" _Can I get a picture with you?_ "

" _Hey, over here!_ "

They all began to back up as the crowd of people approached them, eyeing the crowd warily as they huddled closer together. Shuuzo gulped.

"Run!"

They bolted out of there as fast as they could, and half the crowd began to chase after them. They scattered as they cross-crossed through the streets of L.A., going through every short cut they could find to lose them, but the crowd was persistent. Even though they kept trying and trying to shake them off, the crowd didn't know when to quit. Their running led them to a block of townhouses, where they hit a dead end.

"Shit!" Shuuzo cursed. "We've been cornered!" He could already hear the incoming footsteps of the stampeding crowd, and he knew it was the end. Just as he was considering waving the white flag, a door opened, catching the attention of the large group. There was someone standing behind the door, but it was too dark inside the actual house to see what they looked like.

" _Get in!_ " they said. " _Get in if you want to live!_ "

There were so many things wrong with this right now, but Shuuzo didn't care, and he signalled the others to follow him as they ran into the house, and the stranger shut the door behind them. The crowd came through and saw that no one was there, and decided to check somewhere else.

The fourteen of them sighed in relief as they heard the crowd pass by. The stranger came up behind them.

" _That was a close one, you guys okay?_ " Shuuzo smiled.

" _Yeah, thanks. We owe you one, Miss._ "

" _Ha! Miss? You mean you don't recognise me?_ " The stranger finally turned the lights on and they could finally see what she looked like. She was wearing a white t-shirt and some skinny jeans with some Adidas basketball shoes. She had bright, green eyes and her blonde hair contrasted with the pink of her glasses frames. Oh she was no stranger. Not at all. And she confirmed this when she sent a playful wink toward the light of Seirin.

" _Nice to see you, Taiga!_ " Taiga's eyes widened in surprise.

" _ALEX?!_ "

* * *

 **Okay! Done with that! Idk when I might be able to update next, but I will be writing so just look out for me. Until next time, you know what to do...**

 **Read and review please!**


	31. Idiots on vacation- A pressing issue

**Oh my God I'm FINALLY back!**

 **I'm sorry, but I just flew back home last week on Wednesday, and I've been battling jet-lag since, because China is 12 hours ahead and I was in Dubai for a day which is 8 hours ahead and my body clock just sorta quit on me cuz it didn't know what time it was anymore. But after 10 flights and a train ride from Guangzhou to Beijing, now I've finally gathered the mental stamina to finish this chapter. By the way Beijing is fuckin crazy. People hounded us on the street like paparazzi, all because they've never seen a black family before. I must've taken photos with at the very least 100 different strangers. How's _that_ for a vacation?**

 **Anyway, y'all don't wanna hear me blather on about my 3 weeks out of the country, so without further ado...**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

 **Lmao this is just an addition because I forgot to answer some questions before this edit, but to babyj1275: YES. He will most definitely make more appearances. Definitely count on it.**

 **And to everyone else who reviewed, I appreciate the feedback from you too!**

 **Okay, _now_ you can enjoy.**

* * *

Idiots on vacation- A pressing issue

After their run-in with some crazy fans, the fourteen cousins thought all was lost until they found their savior of the day. Being a former player in the WNBA and mentor to Taiga and Tatsuya, who better to run into than Alexandra Garcia? Taiga was more than shocked to find her here.

"Alex, what are you doing here?!" Taiga sputtered, so surprised that he switched back to Japanese without thinking. Alex laughed.

"What, am I not allowed to be here?" Alex pouted. "How mean, Taiga. I've missed you!"

"Wha—"

Before Taiga could say anything, she was already kissing him, much to his horror. The rest of the group sweat-dropped. Since it had been so long since they'd seen her last, they forgot she was prone to doing that. He pulled back instantly, his face flaming red.

"I told you to stop doing that!" he screamed. She huffed stubbornly.

"You're no fun," she said, folding her arms. She looked over to the rest of the GoM who were staring pretty hard. "What, did you guys want a kiss too?"

"NO, WE'RE GOOD!"

"Th-That would be improper, nanodayo…"

"Shintaroucchi, your face is turning red."

"Shut your mouth, Ryouta."

"Are you trying to take Sei-chan from me? Even if you're the elder, I won't let you!"

"Reo-nii-san, please stop."

"Isn't that pedophilia?"

"Heh? Since when were you so eloquent, Shōgo?"

"You askin' for a fight, Shuuzo?!"

"Never mind that!" Taiga said. "Why are you here, Alex?"

"What do you mean why? I live here," Alex answered.

"You live here?" Taiga echoed. "No you don't, you live on the other side of town…"

"Ah, I forgot to tell you. I moved a few months ago. Rent got expensive on that side of town."

"Oh…"

The front door suddenly unlocked and everyone's attention was turned toward it as it revealed a black-haired teenager holding a box of popsicles.

"Alex, they didn't have blue raspberry, so I got grape instead—" He stopped when he realized he was being eyed by fourteen different people, all of which he recognized, especially the redheaded Power Forward who was recoiling from shock.

"Taiga?" he said. Taiga looked the boy up and down.

"Tatsuya?" he shot back.

"Ehhh, it really is that guy," said Kotarou.

"It's nice to see you again, Tatsu-kun!" Satsuki said cheerfully. He smiled.

"It truly is nice to see all of you today," he said. "What brings you to L.A.?"

"I should be asking _you_ that, Tatsuya!" Taiga retorted. "First Alex, now you? I bet pretty soon you're gonna say that my dad is under the coffee table, or you have Barack Obama hiding in the closet!"

"Well, I haven't kidnapped your dad or the president for that matter," Tatsuya said in vague amusement "But I did tell you that I was coming here for summer, didn't I? We talked on the phone about it a couple weeks ago, Taiga."

"Eh? I totally forgot!" Now that he remembered, Taiga does recall that phone call. After all this running from crazy fans, he forgot that detail. Tatsuya shook his head.

"You always were the forgetful type, Taiga," he said somewhat fondly. "Anyway, everyone please, come and sit down."

…

Everyone situated themselves in the living room, sitting either on or around the couches there.

"So why does everyone seem panicked and out of breath?" Tatsuya asked. "Did something happen?" Alex chuckled.

"Oh something did happen, alright," she said. "You'll get a kick outta this one, Tatsuya." She turned to the rest of them. "You guys wanna know why I wasn't surprised by your sudden appearance here? Because when I went for a coffee run this morning, I saw this on my way out." She reached down to a shelf under the coffee table and pulled out a magazine with all their faces on it. Tatsuya's eyes widened.

"What is that?" he said in shock. "Why are you all in a magazine?"

"That's the magazine from the store!" Eikichi pointed out. Alex sighed.

"Honestly, Taiga," she said. "Who would've thought you and your cousins would cause so much ruckus in one night? Now everyone and their mother knows who you are! What were all of you even doing in a night club?"

"It's a long story," Taiga grumbled. "There was Britney Spears, and fruit punch and the V.I.P. and karaoke and it just got all out of hand." Now it was Alex's turn to sweat-drop.

"Sounds complicated," she said in sympathy.

"Honestly, I don't even know what we're gonna do," said Shuuzo. "We're so recognized now that it's not even funny."

"It's really a shame," said Reo. "I really don't know how we're going to sightsee or anything if everyone will be hounding us." Alex waved her hand to dismiss the subject.

"You guys stress too much!" she said. "You should relax a bit. I know! Let's play some basketball!"

"Basketball?" Chihiro said in disbelief. "With all the mess outside? If we go outside, then people are bound to find us."

"It's cool," Alex replied. "There's a court nearby that no one goes to. It's the perfect place to let loose! C'mon! You can't come to L.A. and stay cooped up in your hotel room. Let's go!"

With that, Alex dragged them all out of the house and to the outside, Tatsuya grabbing the basketball by the couch and shutting the door behind them.

~O~

At first, everyone seemed kind of against the idea of going out where they might be seen, but once they got out to the courts, they easily pushed those feelings aside, and their urges to play basketball resurfaced. Soon they were already trying to form teams.

"Okay! Since there are sixteen of us, we should make it two teams of eight with three subs on each side," Shuuzo concluded. "If there are no objections to that, then let's start now."

"Who are gonna be the two captains?" Taiga asked.

"Can I be the captain?" Daiki asked. Taiga cringed.

"Oh _God_ no," he grimaced. "Daiki go sit down somewhere."

"Who asked you?!"

"Hey! What about me?" Ryouta whined. "I wanna be captain-ssu!"

"No way," everyone said in unison.

"EHHH?! That's so unfair!" he cried. Atsushi sighed as he munched on a Hershey's bar.

"Shuu-chin, why don't you and Alex-chin be captain?" he said.

"That's a good idea, Atsushi," said Seijuro. "Since they're the two eldest who have the most experience in basketball, it would only be right for them to be the captains." Alex nodded.

"So it's settled then," she said. "Let's start picking teams!"

By the time they were done with the selection process with Alex's team consisting of Reo, Shōgo, Chihiro, and Seijuro, and Shuuzo's team consisting of Eikichi, Daiki, Tetsuya, and Taiga, they were ready to play. At the moment, the people sitting out were Shintarou, Tatsuya, and Atsushi, Satsuki, Ryouta, and Kotarou. They were to act as the current benchwarmers while the rest of them started out in the first quarter. Satsuki was the current referee, and she was in possession of the whistle until she was subbed into the game. She grabbed the ball from the side and held it between her hands as she stepped up to the center of the court.

"This game will be a five on five following the same rules as an official match. Each mini game will last twenty minutes, with five minutes in each quarter. Get ready, everyone!" Everyone got into position as Shuuzo and Alex stood opposite each other in the center. Then Satsuki took a stance and threw the ball high in the air.

"It's time for the tip-off!"

Shuuzo and Alex both jumped high in the air as the ball fell from the sky, reaching for it as best as they could. Shuuzo got to the ball first. He landed on the ground and passed it to Eikichi. Eikichi caught the ball and began charging toward the basket. Reo went to defend. He scoffed.

"You think you're gonna stop me with that weak defense?" Eikichi said. He stopped in place and attempted a turnaround before ramming into something the minute he spun on his heels. It was Chihiro, who stood his ground and slow Eikichi to a halt.

"Chihiro?!" He mentally cursed. He didn't even see him creep up behind him. The second he was distracted, Seijuro smacked the ball out of his hand, taking his older brother completely off guard.

"Chihiro-nii-san is very easy to lose," he said. "Do be mindful of your surroundings next time."

Seijuro had darted in the opposite direction by the time Eikichi had broken free of Chihiro's screen and was passing the half court line. Eikichi had caught up to him by then and was ready to apprehend, his arms out, Taiga coming to assist with a double team.

"You're not getting away from me this time, chibi." Seijuro smirked as he stopped.

"I'm not, but he is."

"Huh?"

Shōgo broke free of his mark and ran up behind Eikichi. Seijuro bounced the ball between Taiga's legs and the ashen-haired teenager caught it deftly from the other side. When Eikichi turned around and saw the ball had transferred hands, Shōgo gave him a mischievous wink.

"Sorry, but I'm gonna be takin' that move from before," he laughed. He completely recreated Eikichi's turnaround and drove past him, jumping in the air and doing a layup, the ball bouncing off the backboard and sinking into the net. Everyone on the sidelines cheered.

"Alex-san's team gain the first two points!" Kotarou shouted in excitement.

"Nice play!" Ryouta yelled. Shuuzo shook his head.

"We'll get them back in the next possession.

The next possession was with Shuuzo's team. Shuuzo started off with the ball and then passed it to Daiki. Once Daiki had the ball, he began slowly bouncing it down the court, keeping his pace at a brisk jog. Once he was in the sight of Shōgo, who had come to mark him, he went for an immediate change of pace and broke out into a sprint. He outpaced Shōgo, who was taken aback by the sudden sprint, and he took the opportunity to go for a jump-shot. Seijuro ran up and jumped up to try and block him, so Daiki switched gear in midair and threw the ball to the right. Tetsuya locked eyes with the ball and passed it toward the basket once more. Taiga got a running start, grabbed the ball, and dunked it with ease, hanging off the rim for a moment before releasing his grip. The subs went wild again, and Satsuki increased the other team's points by two. It was a tie. Taiga and Daiki fist-bumped before letting out some victory cries. Alex smiled.

"Heh, not bad, Taiga," she said. "I'm impressed." Taiga rubbed the back of his neck and laughed sheepishly.

"Ah, it was nothing," he replied. Alex bent down and grabbed the ball.

"Alright, time for a counterattack."

Seijuro began with the ball and started dribbling down the court. Daiki caught up to him in an instant and tried to defend.

"You're not gonna have the ball for long, Seijuro!" Seijuro's face remained unchanged.

"You're right, I won't."

Before Daiki could question his logic, he threw the ball behind him and suddenly Chihiro appeared out of nowhere and passed the ball to Alex at lightning speed. Alex took the ball and continued on to the opposing team's basket, where Shuuzo was waiting for her.

"Not so fast, Alex!"

"What's this?" she said smugly. "You wanna have a one-on-one with a former WNBA player?" A spark of mischief flashed in her eyes as she took on the challenge. "You asked for this."

She bounced the ball in between her legs and caught it in the other hand. She then made like she was about to shoot the ball, which caused Shuuzo to instinctively put up his hands to block, but he realized a second too late that it was just a fake. While he had his hands up, she threw the ball up and over his head, making him turn his head to see where the ball went. When he turned his head back to Alex, she had already caught the ball again and threw it toward the basket with one hand, where it swished through without grazing the rim. His jaw went slack as he eyed the ball that landed on the ground.

"What the hell just happened?" Alex giggled as she brushed past him and patted his shoulder.

"Don't get too caught up in my play style," she teased.

In the next possession, Eikichi was being triple teamed by Reo, Alex, and Chihiro. This was so they could try and combat his unstoppable force. But Eikichi still managed to get through them and charge toward the basket. Seijuro was on his tail, hand reaching out to grab the ball from behind at the right moment, but Eikichi suddenly jumped from the free throw line. Everyone looked up at him like he was crazy. Was he gonna dunk from there? Eikichi didn't, actually. He chucked the ball at the backboard, where it bounced off and flew over his head to Shuuzo. He caught it and leaped from where he was standing. Alex ran up and jumped in front of him, her hands ready to deflect the ball, but he wasn't going to shoot either. What he did instead is while he jumped, he threw a behind-the-back pass to Daiki, who caught it and dunked without a second wasted. Alex raised her eyebrows.

"That was a dirty tactic, Shuuzo." Shuuzo grinned.

"There's nothing against the rules about a double alley-oop, Alex."

"Hmph! I'll teach you how to respect your seniors." The subs on the side were mesmerized by the game.

"So cool!" Kotarou said in awe. "They keep going back and forth with points. No one's taken the lead yet!"

"Hey, Shintaroucchi," Ryouta called to the green-haired boy. "Do you think the balance will tip soon?"

"It has to, nanodayo," Shintarou commented. "Sooner or later, one team will begin to take control of the game. Whose team it will be is anyone's guess." Mid-speech, he heard light snoring coming from the space beside him and a vein popped in his forehead.

"Ryouta. Wake Atsushi up and tell him to pay attention to the game, nanodayo."

"Eh?"

…

The first quarter ended with the score being ten to eleven, Alex's team taking the small but apparent lead. After the quarter ended, both teams began to start subbing out players. It started off with one player at a time, so, on Alex's team they subbed Shōgo out for Atsushi and Daiki for Kotarou on the other team. Ryouta pouted as he sat on the bench.

"No fair-ssu! I wanna play with Tetsuyacchi!" he whined. Daiki squirted him with a bottle of water.

"Shut up, will ya?" he groaned. "Quit being a baby and just wait until they sub you in."

Atsushi grumbled as he walked into the court and stood near his team.

"Ugh, what a pain," he said in irritation. "I wanna go sit down and eat my snacks."

"Don't you start complaining too," said Taiga. "Quit troubling the other team. Just eat your snacks later!"

"I wanna eat snacks now," Atsushi emphasized. Seijuro tapped the purple giant on the shoulder.

"Atsushi…"

Atsushi turned around and looked at Seijuro and immediately began drooling when he saw what he was holding. It was some Twizzlers that he bought from the store they were at before.

"Ohhh, American sweets…" Atsushi gasped. "Gimme!" Seijuro held the pack of red licorice away from him when he tried to reach for it.

"You may have them after the game," Seijuro stated. "And you have to play well, or else I won't give them to you. Do we have a deal?" Atsushi nodded vigorously.

"Okay, Sei-chin~"

Once he started playing, the other team had never seen such good defense from Atsushi in their lives, not even in official matches. Every person who had tried to make a shot from the other team had been blocked by Atsushi, and his wide defense range shut down any and all jump shots within the three-point line. By the time the second quarter had twenty seconds left, they hadn't let Shuuzo's team score a single basket, still leaving their team one point behind. Tetsuya panted as he ran up to Shuuzo.

"Shuuzo-san, our team is being extremely pressured."

"Yeah, it's a pain in the ass," Shuuzo grumbled. "Honestly. How hard does Atsushi wanna defend? All because of a pack of damn Twizzlers."

"I think I have an idea, Shuuzo-san."

"Really?"

"Yes," said Tetsuya. "It'll take their team off guard, but since it is a rather reckless play, you'll have to work with me accordingly."

"…Alright. But you can't screw up. Once they start getting a proper lead, it'll be hard to make a comeback."

In their next possession, Taiga was with the ball. He looked at the situation ahead. Everyone was being marked in a tight man-to-man defense. Alex's team was not letting up at all. Atsushi was wide open, standing in the middle of the three-point zone, just waiting for Taiga to come through.

 _It'll take their team off guard, but since it is a rather reckless play, you'll have to work with me accordingly._

"This better work, Tetsuya," Taiga muttered. "Otherwise our team is screwed."

Taiga drove forward and set a course straight for Atsushi, who was emitting a scary amount of aura for an unofficial game.

"Hah? You think you can go against me?" he sneered. "I'll crush you, Tai-chin."

"Save your breath," said Taiga. "The only one who's doing the crushing will be us."

He threw the ball behind him under his legs and two hands grabbed them from behind. Atsushi gaped when he saw who it was.

"Tetsu-chin?!"

 _It's impossible_ , Atsushi thought. _Tetsu-chin can't use Misdirection if he holds the ball. What is he up to?_

"Sorry, Atsushi-kun, this is where we take the momentum."

He powered through past Atsushi before he could react, but he didn't stop to make a shot. Why was he going so close to the basket?

"Now, Taiga-kun! Shuuzo-kun!"

Shuuzo used himself as a screen, making Atsushi collide into him before he could get past. Atsushi watched in confusion as Taiga suddenly crouched down on the ground like he was kowtowing. What on earth was he doing? Suddenly, Tetsuya stepped onto Taiga's back and jumped. Time seemed to stop as the whole court watched Tetsuya with wide eyes soaring through the air. With one swift motion, he dunked the ball and hung there on the rim for everyone to see his seemingly implausible feat. Then, he landed back on the ground and looked at the opposing team with his usual poker face.

"Is that a good enough comeback for you?"

The rest of his team started screaming as they went up and tackled him in excitement.

"FUCK YEAH, TETSU!"

"TETSUYACCHI, THAT WAS SO COOL!"

"TETSU-KUUUUUUUUUN!"

"Oi! No subs on the court!"

…

After that crazy play from Shuuzo's team, Alex's team was extra careful. Seijuro had the ball next and was dribbling down the court. Kotarou went to intercept him at impeccable speeds. Seijuro picked up the pace and went to face him head on. Or so Kotarou thought. Reo was running by them at the same time and Seijuro put the ball behind his back and passed to him using his elbow, taking Kotarou off guard. Reo caught the ball with ease and pressed on toward the basket. He was about to get into shooting position, but he suddenly cut back, when Tetsuya appeared in front of him. Reo clicked his tongue and frowned as he held the ball back. He had to be mindful of Tetsuya now that he pulled such a crazy stunt. But he wasn't doing anything, so what was he up to? His thoughts were interrupted when Shuuzo smacked the ball out of his hand. His eyes widened in surprise.

Shuuzo grabbed the ball and went back in the other direction, blowing through defender after defender. Alex and Atsushi went to block, but Shuuzo had another thing coming for them. He leaped up in the air and threw a behind the back shot to the basket, where it fell through the net before anyone knew what happened. As his teammates congratulated him on his pass, Reo began jogging back to get in position.

 _How could he have gotten past me_ , he thought. _I was so sure that I was alert. I even avoided Tetsu-chan when I saw him—_

He stopped mid-jog and furrowed his brows as he processed his thought.

… _I saw him?_

"Time out! Alex-san's team!"

Pausing the game with Alex's team at thirty points and Shuuzo's at thirty-three, the four of them gathered around and looked up at Reo expectantly after he had asked for a timeout.

"Eh? Tetsuya is drawing our attention away from other players?"

"Yes," Reo said seriously. "That's what I believe he is trying to do. It's true, that the dunk was to throw us off, but I believe it had a second hidden objective."

"A hidden objective?" Chihiro repeated. Seijuro nodded in understanding.

"I get it," he said. "By pulling off the dunk, Tetsuya not only took our team by surprise, but by doing so, it also made him stand out and appear more noticeable. He was deliberately drawing attention to himself so we would pay less attention to the rest of his team. That's why Reo-nii-san saw him, and why he wasn't looking out for Shuuzo-san."

"I see what you mean," said Alex. "In that case, we better call in for some reinforcements. It's time for a substitution."

"Alex-san's team! Member change!"

Everyone on the sidelines looked up as Satsuki made the announcement. Soon enough, Chihiro was coming out of the court locking eyes with Shintarou as he jerked his head toward the other players.

"Better get out here, you've been summoned. We're switching you with Atsushi." Shintarou exhaled deeply as he began removing the taping on his left hand.

"I suppose it's about that time, nanodayo," he said. "We will get them back, three points at a time."

The game resumed soon after, Shuuzo's team trying to overwhelm their opponents. Tetsuya was still noticeable, allowing his teammates to use his Overflow to make plays that wouldn't be possible had they been the center of attention. At the moment, Alex was being triple-teamed by Taiga, Tetsuya, and Shuuzo in an attempt to shut down her plays. She tried to assess the situation. She could try and get past, but that might result in a foul. And that would be a real pain. Just as she was about to consider it, she heard a voice.

"Alex! Over here!"

Reo who was over to the right was wide open, his arm extended waiting to catch the ball. The three defenders tried to block Reo from her line of sight, but that's just what she wanted. By blocking Reo, they freed space from the left side, and she passed to Chihiro, who had just run by and he changed the pass course to the awaiting arms of—

"Shit!" Shuuzo cursed. "Shintarou has the ball! Kotarou, block the shot!" As Shintarou got into shooting position, Kotarou ran in front of him and tried to deflect the ball.

"I'm not letting you make that shot, Shintarou!" A ghost of a smile slipped across Shintarou's face.

"It's useless. No matter how hard you struggle, I will make the shot in the end, nodayo." The ball left his hands, and Kotarou was a second too late to block it. There went the high arc, and Shuuzo's team could do nothing but watch it soar through the sky. Shintarou began walking back and gave the other team one last look.

"Consider your lead officially wiped."

The ball swished cleanly through the net without a single grazing of the rim and Alex's team had their score go up by three, giving them a tie with the other team. Seijuro lifted his hand in the air and high-fived the green-haired Shooting Guard.

"Nice shot, Shintarou." Shintarou adjusted his glasses.

"This is nothing special, nanodayo," he said. "Save the praise for when we win."

Reo watched as Shuuzo picked up the ball and passed it to one of his teammates.

"Hmm…watching Shin-chan make that shot makes me want to do something now~" It was about time he got back at the other team.

He made sure that the next time their team got the ball, he would get it. Once Alex had intercepted a pass from the other team, Reo broke free of his mark and put his hands out.

"Alex! Pass, I'm open!"

She saw him and immediately threw the ball. He caught it and powered forward. Once he stepped onto the three-point line, he began getting into shooting position. Shuuzo ran up to him and jumped up.

"I won't let you, Reo!"

But Reo didn't jump yet. It was only after he jumped that Shuuzo realized what he was planning to do.

"Sorry, Shuuzo. I'm feeling awfully greedy today, so I'm going for as many points as I can."

"Wha—"

Reo finally jumped, which caused him to collide with Shuuzo mid-air. Once he collided with him, he aimed and forced a shot. Shuuzo heard the whistle being blown and the and when he turned to look at the basket, the ball had sunk through. His jaw went slack as he stared at the ball and Satsuki began calling to them from the sidelines.

"Offensive foul to Shuuzo-san's team! Basket counts and Reo-san is awarded one free throw!"

Shuuzo glared at Reo, who simply smiled and went to retrieve the ball.

"I can't believe that bastard," he mumbled. "He just made a four-point play against me."

Everyone arranged themselves accordingly at the free throw area. Reo was handed the ball by Satsuki and took his stance at the free throw line. He experimentally bounced the ball twice, released the ball from his hands, and made the shot. Their team's score went up by another point, putting them four points ahead of the other team in a single play. The whole team went to congratulate him on his performance.

"Nice job, Reo. You sure have picked up some cool tricks. Maybe you might be in the NBA someday!"

"It is no wonder Virgo is first place on Oha Asa, nanodayo."

"Not bad, Reo. You should do that more often."

"That was a beautiful play, Reo-nii-san." Reo laughed as he took in the praise from everyone.

"Oh stop it, you guys," he said sheepishly. "You'll make me blush."

Shuuzo huffed as he watched the other team.

"Look at him, drinking in those compliments," he said. "I'll teach him a thing or two about basketball. Oi, Reo!"

Reo turned and eyed Shuuzo.

"You rang?" he said teasingly.

"Don't think you've won yet," Shuuzo growled. "This match is just getting started!" A glint of playfulness flashed through Reo's eyes.

"I would expect nothing less."

~O~

In the next minutes to come, many tactics were used and many play strategies were devised. Several people were subbed in and out. However, every time a team pulled ahead, the opposing team went and diminished their lead. At most, either team could only get four points ahead before the other team caught up again.

Shuuzo's team brought in Ryouta to counter their attacks by copying their style. To combat that, Alex's team brought in Shōgo to pillage Ryouta's plays. Then Alex's team brought in Tatsuya so they could get more outside shots. Satsuki went into the game at a point on Shuuzo's team, and Shōgo immediately began to try and put her down because he underestimated her skills, which is how he surprisingly ended up with his ankles broken and a basket for Shuuzo's team. As Shōgo sat there on the floor while everyone cheered for Satsuki, he realized that taunting the enemy was probably not a good idea, especially when he received an ass whooping from Shuuzo for making fun of Satsuki. By the time all that happened, the score was 68-70, Shuuzo's team taking the lead with twenty seconds left in the fourth quarter.

As soon as Alex grabbed the ball, Shuuzo came to defend. She cut back and passed the ball to the right.

"Shintarou, catch!"

Shintarou caught the ball and Taiga was already in front of him, standing his ground. It was the last seconds of the fourth quarter, so it was no wonder the defense was so tight. He grimaced. He looked around him. Everyone in Shuuzo's team was keeping a tight man-to-man defense. No one was free. He couldn't dribble, and he couldn't pass. Not to mention he was all the way on the other side of the court, far from the opposing team's basket.

Five seconds.

 _No, it's not over_ , he thought. _If I give up now, then I won't be doing everything I can. We_ will _win this game!_

Four seconds.

Taiga marveled as Shintarou began crouching into shooting position. His mouth flew open.

 _Are you planning to make a shot from there? How many meters away do you think you are?!_

Three seconds.

Shintarou jumped back and released the ball from his hands.

Two seconds.

Everyone watch the ball make a high arc as time ran out.

Shintarou gazed at Taiga victoriously and walked away.

"Victory is ours, nanodayo."

Right as Satsuki blew the final whistle, the ball swished through the net, making everyone's mouth fly open.

"Time's up!" Satsuki declared. "The winner of the match is Alex-san's team!"

The entire bench ran onto the court and began yelling up a storm as Shintarou's team tackled him to the ground in excitement at his buzzer-beater. Seijuro smiled in amusement at the Shooting Guard.

"I'm quite surprised, Shintarou," he said. "I've never seen you make a full court shot before." Shintarou adjusted his glasses once more.

"Then consider this one the first of many."

As all of them began talking about the match they just had, Alex turned around amidst all the commotion to go get her water bottle from the bench. When she did, she saw two people standing near the gate. She wondered what they were doing there, but as soon as she locked eyes with them, they got startled and walked away in a hurry. She raised an eyebrow.

"I wonder what that was about," she muttered. She shrugged and brushed it aside in favor of joining the others.

…

When everyone finally got off the court, Alex was scrolling through her phone as everyone else was making idle chat behind her. Suddenly, she got a Facebook message from her friend.

' _Hey, Alex, have you seen this? It's gone viral on the internet._ '

Alex looked down at the link her friend sent her, which lead her to a page on Facebook with a video post.

 _Crazy basketball game filmed in the park today!_ was the caption on the post, and Alex, curiosity peaked pressed play. She nearly choked when the video started. There in the video was all of them in the basketball match that they were playing in no less than half an hour ago. She froze in place. Taiga and Tatsuya exchanged looks as they looked at their mentor.

"Um, Alex, why'd you stop?" Taiga asked. Alex still didn't move.

"We've been recorded."

Everyone stopped in their tracks. Shuuzo swallowed to clear the sudden dryness in his throat.

"What did you just say?" he said hesitantly. Alex turned her phone around and showed everyone else.

"Our game was filmed and posted online."

They all groaned and a few people face-palmed, Shuuzo especially.

"Can we go nowhere without ending up as a viral sensation?!" he cried. "How did we get caught out _again?!_ "

"So it was those people after all," Alex said gravely. Tatsuya looked up at her.

"What do you mean, Alex?"

"After our game, I saw two people lurking around the entrance to the court," she told them. "They left as soon as I spotted them, but I didn't realize they were filming us."

"They did more than just film a few seconds," said Chihiro. "They filmed the entire game."

"So, what do we do then?" said Taiga. Alex took her phone back and stopped the video.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Reo repeated. She nodded.

"Yep, nothing," she confirmed. "There's nothing you can do anymore. You're in magazines all over town, and you're already viral on the internet. There's no way you can take that back. You're just gonna have to deal with the fact that you're L.A.'s current hot topic. With that being said…" She put her hands on her hips as she faced everyone and gave them a pitying smile.

"Congratulations, you're now official celebrities of Los Angeles!" Everyone looked at each other with expressions of horror.

Well, _crap_.

* * *

 **Read and review please!**


	32. Idiots on vacation- Fatal attractions

**GUESS WHO'S NOT DEAD BITCHES.**

 **Oh my God it's been so long since I've written for this story. To everyone who's been waiting for me to update, I'm so sorry! *bows in apology***

 **To xXTheLeaderOfTheInsanestClanXx: Your poem questioning my whereabouts made me laugh so hard that I will respond with my own:**

 **Roses are red, violets are blue.** **My apologies, but I had coursework to do.** ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

 **On top of essays and endless statistics, I've been doing writing for my other fanfics as well, and that took up more time than I intended it to. I also posted a new one-shot, so anyone who has time to read it should go check it out on my profile! (Yes, it's about Akashi again.) But anyway, enough about me. I hope this chapter is good, I can't tell anymore. But back to our basketball idiots in the states for vacation (SSHHHHH IT'S STILL SUMMER IN SPIRIT). Now, without further ado...**

 **Please enjoy!**

* * *

Idiots on vacation- Fatal attractions

The next morning after the basketball match in the park, the fourteen cousins had a wake-up call that was less than ideal.

It was the banging at the door to the first room that startled them out of their sleep. Shuuzo shot up in bed and his eyes went straight to the door.

"What's going on?" he said groggily. Everyone else in the room began to wake up as well.

"What is that?" said Taiga.

"They're so loud-ssu!" Ryouta complained, putting a pillow over his head.

"It would be best to open it, nanodayo," Shintarou advised. "It could be one of the others." Shuuzo groaned into the mattress for a long moment before finally gathering the resolve to stand up from the bed.

"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses. I'm coming," he mumbled, rubbing his eyes tiredly as he trudged to the door. Once he opened the door, he was face-to-face with at least thirty complete strangers, who all began screaming the second he opened the door.

" _It's him!_ "

" _It's the guy from the magazine! We found his room!_ "

" _Can I have your autograph?!_ "

Before Shuuzo could even react, a bunch of screaming fans began grabbing at him from all sides. He began panicking immediately.

" _O-Oi! Stop grabbing me!_ " he screamed. " _Get off!_ " The others who weren't grabbing him looked past him into the room and saw the others, who were staring in horror at the mess in front of them.

" _Look! It's the rest of them!_ " Their eyes widened.

"Wh-What?" Ryouta said nervously.

"This isn't good," said Daiki.

The rabid fans burst through the door and flooded the room they were in, surrounding the four others who just happened to be sharing a room with Shuuzo. Shuuzo tried tearing away from the people at the door, to try and get to the others. The fans were all over them too.

"Hey! Let go of me!" Taiga said, scrambling to get away.

"Get your hand off my shirt!" Daiki said angrily to a particularly excited girl. "My body is reserved for Mai-chan only!"

"Don't touch my lucky item, nanodayo!" Shintarou yelled at the strange people. Ryouta was holding onto the bedpost when two fans got a hold of his legs and started pulling him off the bed.

"Uwaaa! Shuuzocchi, they're trying to drag me away!" Ryouta cried.

" _Don't touch them!_ " Shuuzo growled at the fans. " _Leave my cousins alone!_ " Suddenly the two rooms next door opened, and out popped Chihiro and Eikichi from their respective rooms.

"What the hell?" Eikichi grunted.

"Shuuzo? What's going on?" Chihiro said in confusion when he saw all the commotion out in the hallway. Shuuzo jerked his head toward him and made a shooing motion.

"Don't come out here, Chihiro!" he said as he pushed people away from him. "If people find out you're in the magazine, they'll attack you too! Eikichi, don't open your door either! Wake everyone up, grab some clothes out of your bag and get downstairs right now! We're calling a taxi!" They nodded quickly and shut their doors. Shuuzo managed to start pulling the fans off the others and pushing them out the door.

"You four! Go get some clothes and shove them into a bag. Get some clothes out for me too. After you finish, we're gonna make a break for it." Taiga, Daiki, Ryouta and Shintarou nodded and ran off to the suitcases and began pulling clothes out.

"Ryouta, pass my shoes from that bag," said quickly as he tore through the first bag looking for Shuuzo's clothes. Ryouta grabbed a red pair and held them up.

"Here, Taigacchi!" Ryouta said, tossing them to him. He held up two different shirts he pulled out of his own bag and looked at them before turning to Shuuzo.

"Shuuzocchi! Should I bring the blue or the orange shirt-ssu?"

"I dunno. I guess blue is kinda—WAIT WE HAVE NO TIME FOR THIS! PICK A SHIRT AND LET'S GO!"

"Shuuzo-san! Should I bring the toothbrushes?"

"Just throw them in, Taiga!"

"Taiga, you're going to have to make room for my lucky item, nanodayo."

"There's no space!"

"Shintarou just hold it!"

"Where's my magazine?"

"Daiki we have no time for your porn mags! Either bring a real book or bring nothing at all!"

"Keh, so stingy."

"Seriously! We have no time!" Shuuzo said, trying to put all of his weight on the door to prevent the people from getting in again. "Sooner or later these crazy fans are gonna bust in and it's gonna be a free-for-all!"

"We got everything!" Ryouta announced. Shuuzo sucked in a deep breath.

"Okay. We're gonna open the door and run through. Get ready."

Everyone went up to the door and got into position.

"On the count of three," said Shuuzo. "One…Two…Three!"

He released the door and the weight from everyone outside forced the door open. The second that happened, they took off.

"Everyone stay close!"

They all pushed through the crowd, dodging hands and cameras and screams everywhere and bolted down the hallway. The people saw where they were going and soon enough the small group found themselves being chased. Shuuzo panted as he ran, trying to figure out what to do. What should they do? Take the elevator? No, it would take too long to get here. Not only that but in the time it takes the elevator to get down, they could be waiting on the ground floor. In that case…

"Stairs it is," he muttered. He turned to the stairs and the other four followed. To save time and to increase the distance between them and the crazy fans other their tail, they had to jump off some stairs. They had to jump down six flights, and by the time they got to the bottom, Shuuzo had never been so relieved to see an exit sign. When he and the others went through it, the fans were still two flights of stairs behind. Good.

The other ten were waiting by the stairs, still in their pajamas but at least wearing shoes, most of them looking somewhat put together, the other half looking like death after being woken up unexpectedly. Chihiro and the others were waiting around until he heard someone call out to him.

"Chihiro!"

Chihiro perked up and turned around recognizing the voice who called to him.

"Oh, Shuuzo, what is…"

His jaw dropped when he saw the five of them being tailed by thirty screaming people. Shuuzo gestured to the entrance.

"EVERYONE GET OUT!" he screamed. There was no time wasted, and no one asked questions as they all piled out of the hotel. They finally got outside and Shuuzo spotted a taxi van. He waved to it like a mad man as if his life depended on it (because frankly, it did.)

" _TAXI! TAXI!_ "

The taxi stopped on the side of the street and Shuuzo near ripped the door off trying to open it.

"Everyone hurry up and get in the car!" They all started getting in, starting from the back row upwards. Shuuzo looked back and saw that the fans were starting to get out of the hotel. He became even more panicked.

"Guys they're coming!"

Once everyone was safely in the car, Shuuzo ran to the other side and got into the passenger seat.

" _Get us out of here!_ " he said to the man. The taxi driver complied, and stepped on the gas, pulling out of the curb and speeding away from the hotel. The fans who got there a second too late, watched as they drove away, hearing the loud cheers coming from the vehicle, the occupants of the car celebrating their successful getaway.

~O~

"So you guys got ambushed at the hotel? Haha! That's crazy!"

They took a taxi to Alex's place since there was no other place where they could go without being ripped to shreds. Tatsuya was rather surprised when he saw the pajama-clad family at the door asking to borrow her shower and get ready there in her townhouse. Alex seemed pretty tickled by the situation and let them in, laughing at their rather disheveled appearance. Once they were properly dressed, they were back to sitting around in her living room, like yesterday, pondering what the hell to do.

"You guys sure have gained a lot of popularity, huh?" said Tatsuya as he bit into his toast. "You must be excited."

"Hell no!" said Daiki. "It's been a pain in the ass since day one. We can't do anything now without people stalking us."

"Hm? You're not excited?" Tatsuya said playfully. "What about Taiga?"

"Yeah right," Taiga said immediately. "The people of L.A. are crazier than I remember! They attacked us in our hotel room. Tatsuya. One girl said she wanted my _eyebrows_." Tatsuya started laughing.

"And you didn't give them to her?" he joked. "Taiga, you're so cruel."

"Like hell I am!"

"As if that wasn't bad enough, half of us had to drag whoever was half asleep," said Chihiro. "Do you know how hard it is to drag Atsushi out of bed?"

"I was tired," is all the explanation the purple-haired teenager offered up as he went back to a bag of Doritos. Eikichi huffed.

"Consider yourself lucky," he said in annoyance. "At least he doesn't bite." He held up his arm to show the very obvious bite mark that was on his wrist. Seijuro crossed his arms and looked the other way.

"You shouldn't shake me so hard next time," he said stubbornly.

"If this keeps up, we won't be able to go anywhere without being recognized," said Tetsuya. "Where should we go today?" Alex hummed in thought.

"If you're gonna tour L.A., you gotta go as far away as possible from Hollywood," she said sagely. "The closer you are to Hollywood, the more likely you're gonna run into people who know who you are. I know! Why don't you go up north?"

"Up north?" said Kotarou. "What's up north?"

"What's up north?" Alex repeated in shock. "You don't know what's up north? Six Flags of course!" Taiga and Tatsuya looked at each other with equal expressions of excitement. Shuuzo perked up at that and began smirking.

"We're gonna go to Six Flags?" said Taiga. " _YES!_ "

"What is Six Flags, nanodayo?" said Shintarou. Alex, Shuuzo, Taiga and Tatsuya all looked toward Shintarou like he just severely offended all of them at once. Alex began chuckling mischievously.

"What's Six Flags you ask?" she said. "Allow me to educate you…"

~O~

A while later, the sixteen of them somehow ended up standing at the Six Flags entrance. It was bustling with people. Children running around, mothers and fathers watching over them, or some groups were just a bunch of teens who came out to have a good time. Well, it seemed like they were one of them. Shintarou blinked.

"You know, you could have just explained what it was instead of taking us here, nanodayo." Alex laughed and slung and arm around his shoulder.

"Ah come on, where's the fun in that?" she said. "I want you guys to experience this place first-hand. You _can't_ leave L.A. without coming to Six Flags. It's kind of an unspoken rule. Like a rite of passage."

"It sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me."

"Well, you won't be saying that when you go on in. Look!" She held up a stack of what looked like tickets. The rest of them gathered around to eye them. Shuuzo smiled.

"Ah, those are…"

"That's right!" Alex chirped. "Day passes! I got one for everyone while you were looking for somewhere to sit. Call it a friendly gesture."

"Wow, thanks!"

"You sure are generous today," Tatsuya commented. Chihiro narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Somehow, the only vibe I'm getting is that we're walking into a trap." Alex shook her head and clapped the grey-haired teenager on the back.

"Now, now, why would I do something like that?" she said. "I just want you guys to enjoy what us Americans have to offer. What's so bad about that?"

"It's fine, Chihiro. Let's just go in," said Shuuzo. "And she was nice enough to give us passes, so we should be considerate and take up the offer."

"You just wanna go on rides."

"Well, what's done is done, so let's enjoy ourselves," said Seijuro. "Going on a few rides wouldn't hurt."

"That's the spirit!" Alex said, looking proudly over at the redhead. "If that's the case then we shouldn't waste another second standing out here. Let's go!"

And with that, Alex began pushing the large group inside while Taiga and Tatsuya began chanting 'Rite of passage' in English.

…

Getting through the gates and finally entering the amusement park, the sixteen of them finally saw how wild it was. There were attractions left and right, people screaming on roller coasters, children both laughing and crying and several booths around displaying a variety of different prizes ranging from keychains to giant plush toys. Everyone was in awe, looking at all the madness from where they stood.

"This place looks so cool!" Kotarou exclaimed.

"There are tons of things to do in this place," Ryouta observed. "I can't wait to check out the rides-ssu!"

"I can't wait to check out the food stalls," Eikichi said under his breath.

"I wanna check out the candy shop," Atsushi said. "Can we go there now?"

"No way!" Shōgo snapped. "I wanna go on the rides first."

"Taiga-kun used to come here when he lived in America, didn't he?" Tetsuya asked his current light. Taiga nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "Tatsuya and I finally managed to dominate all the attractions here. It took us ages to do everything."

"So since Tai-chan and Tatsuya-kun have been coming here, then would that mean that you know the best rides?" Satsuki questioned.

"You bet!" said Taiga. Tatsuya raised his eyebrows.

"I'm quite surprised, though," he said. "I didn't know that you liked rollercoasters, Satsuki-san."

"Yeah!" she quipped. "It's _Dai-chan_ you have to worry about. Sometimes he cries on rollercoasters."

"I don't anymore, Satsuki!" Daiki yelled from in front of her. Satsuki snorted.

"So you acknowledge the fact that at a point you used to cry on roller coasters."

"Shut up!"

Tatsuya snickered at their little quarrel. "It happens to the best of us," he said. "Taiga cried on his first roller coaster too."

"D-Don't start telling them those stories, Tatsuya!" Taiga yelled, blushing furiously.

"So, now that we're here, how are we gonna tackle the rides?" said Eikichi. "Should we just start with the nearest one?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, so inexperienced," Alex said in pity. "If we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this right. There's a strategy to going on rides."

"What's the strategy?" Reo asked.

"You first start off with the mild rides and slowly work your way up," Alex explained. "Then once we've gotten to all the big rides and done those, you go back to the rest of the smaller rides to cool off. Then near the end of our stay here, we can go and check out the game stalls and see if we can get some prizes!"

"Hmm…not bad," said Chihiro. "I guess we'll do that. Which ride are we going on first?"

"Let's go on that Pirate Ship ride," Shuuzo suggested. Alex nodded excitedly.

"Yeah! That one's a perfect ride for a warm up. Let's go!"

…

Using the directory map they had been given upon entrance, the sixteen of them made their way to the pirate ship ride dubbed 'The Buccaneer'. Taiga and Tatsuya informed the rest of them that in order to enjoy the full experience, they had to sit at the back, and that's just what they did. The large group filed into the back, sitting there are other people filled up the rest of the rides.

"This oughta be a good way to start things off," said Alex. "This is one of the easy rides, so you guys have nothing to worry about."

"So then why is that woman crying?" Seijuro asked, staring at the stranger in the row in front of him, the woman looking like she was about to faint from fear. Alex nervously laughed.

"Well," she said. "While this isn't the most extreme of rides, it's not necessarily for the faint hearted either…"

"What does that mean?" said Daiki.

"You'll find out soon enough," said Shuuzo. "I think the ride is starting."

Right as he said that, there was a whirring noise and then a low humming as the large attraction began to start up. The pirate ship began moving, but it was only rocking a little as the machine started to get going. After doing that a few times, it began properly working and the ship rocked back and forth. It was going high enough to make the ride enjoyable, but not enough to make anyone scream. Ryouta hummed in thought.

"Eh? This isn't as bad as I thought it would be-ssu," he commented.

"This isn't the highest it goes, Ryouta-kun," said Tatsuya as he laid back in his seat. "It gets better."

"What are you — _ugh!_ "

Ryouta suddenly felt his heart in his throat and the most uncomfortable sensation in the base of his stomach as the pirate ship dropped from an unbearable height. The rest of them must have felt it because everyone's face had changed to either a look of severe discomfort or extreme joy. In such a short time, the pirate ship went from leisurely rocking to practically launching its passengers up in the air at almost a ninety-degree angle. And when it came back down, anyone within fifty meters would be able to hear their screams and laughter when they fell back down to earth. This continued on for another minute or two before the ride finally began slowing down, and then coming to a complete stop. When the ride was over, everyone finally caught a breather and cautiously stepped off the ride. Kotarou laughed.

"That was awesome!" he exclaimed.

"That was not pleasant," said Shintarou, wobbling on the last step down. "This ride was not mild in the slightest."

"Actually, I agree with Kotarou-san," said Tetsuya. "That ride was pretty fun."

"Ah, don't mind Shintarou, Tetsu, he's a baby," said Daiki. "The ride was too fast-paced for him."

"Your legs are shaking, Daiki," Seijuro said as he brushed past them. The rest of the group snickered at the Touou Power Forward.

"Hahaha! Don't piss your pants, Daiki," Taiga laughed as he went on ahead. The blue-haired teenager growled at him, but because his legs wouldn't work properly, chasing him down was out of the question. Atsushi came off the ride looking pretty much unruffled, looking around at the other attractions.

"Ne, Shuu-chin. Which ride are we going on next?" Shuuzo thought for a moment.

"Hmm… Hey, Alex, what about 'The Swashbuckler?'"

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that one!" said Alex. "In fact, we should have probably done that first."

"What the hell is a Swashbuckler?" said Shōgo. "Is that some type of disease?"

"No you dumbass, it's a ride!" said Shuuzo. "I'm sure all of you have seen those giant swings attached to this machine thingy that spins you around."

"Ohhh those things," said Satsuki. "Those are fun!"

This ride was quite popular with everyone. It started out with everyone sitting on their respective swing and the machine spinning them around slowly, but then it got faster and faster, and the speed was lifting the swings higher off the ground. By that time, they were going so fast that everything was a whirlwind of color, except what was different about this ride compared to the last one was that it didn't shake up their insides as much, so no screams of terror were involved. Even though basically all of them wanted to go again, Alex believed that they all had enough warming up (although some argued it wasn't enough) and decided that they were now going to take it up a notch.

"Eh? We're going up another level?" said Ryouta. "What are we going to ride?"

"Hm, good question," said Shuuzo. "Why not try the Apocalypse? That one is pretty fun."

"You think so?" Alex asked. "I was thinking maybe we should go on The Batman."

"You realize you're going from easy straight to hard in terms of difficulty level, right?"

"I know," said Alex. "You coming?" Shuuzo grinned.

"Yeah. You heard that, guys?" The rest of the group nodded.

"Batman, was it?" Tetsuya wondered aloud. "Isn't he that one superhero?"

"Yeah," Taiga replied. "The ride itself is pretty fun. It's a really fast roller coaster ride that takes you at like fifty miles per hour."

"Ehhh? That's pretty fast," said Ryouta. "Let's go on it!"

The line was a bit lengthy, but in due time, they managed to hit the front and were able to go all at once. The members of their large group who had already been on the ride urged the others to sit with them in the front, and so they all piled on. It was a suspended roller coaster, so they sat in chairs that made their legs dangle below them. As the people manning the attraction came and checked to see if everyone was strapped in and ready to go, some people (namely Daiki and Shintarou) were becoming visibly scared; not that they'd admit it, though.

Once the final checks were made, the ride began to move as it started up. Some occupants of the ride waving to whatever family or friends that were watching them from behind the platform. Immediately after the car left the docking area, it began to go up. Alex looked ahead of her to see the view.

"This should be an easy ride," she said. "You barely feel anything on these types of roller coasters so even for people who are scared it should be no problem."

"Heh, tell that to Mr. Macho over here," said Shōgo, jerking his head to Daiki next to him. "This guy's shaking harder than a newborn Chihuahua."

"I t-told you I'm not scared!" Daiki retorted, trying not to grip the safety bar too tightly. "I can handle this!"

"Your stammerin' says otherwise. Anyway if you're gonna throw up, turn the other way. I like this shirt."

"You b-bastard..."

"Just relax, brats," Shuuzo said from his seat. "I guarantee you, there's gonna be no screaming on this ride. There's nothing to be scared of."

"Hey," Taiga began slowly. "…Where's Tetsuya?"

"What? He should be sitting next to you-ssu," said Ryouta.

"I thought Tetsu-kun was sitting next to you," said Satsuki.

"If he was, I would've known-ssu! He's sitting next to Taigacchi!"

"He's not," Taiga responded. Suddenly the whole group turned deathly pale.

"Do you mean…?"

"You don't think…"

The car reached its peak height. They exchanged looks of complete horror.

"Oh God…"

They all screamed on the way down.

…

"I can't believe you forgot that I was on the ride," Tetsuya deadpanned as they exited The Batman. Taiga scratched his cheek in slight embarrassment.

"Well how was I supposed to know?" he pleaded in defense. "You didn't make any noise."

"Not even the camera captured your presence," Daiki said as he showed them the photos taken during the ride. Taiga looked at the one that was supposed to include Kuroko, but he saw nothing but an empty seat.

"That shouldn't even be possible," he said in amazement. "I can understand a person, but not even the camera saw you. What are you, a vampire?"

Shintarou shakily adjusted his glasses. "I suppose the ride could have been worse, nanodayo," he said. "It was only slightly uncomfortable."

Reo dusted himself off as he caught up to the rest of them. "I can't believe I heard that wall of muscle scream like a damsel in distress."

"Who are you calling a damsel in distress?!" Eikichi growled. "I'm not a woman!" Reo chuckled.

"You sounded like one, though."

"I thought you were going to faint in that ride, Eikichi-nii-san."

"Like you can talk, chibi. At least I'm not stumbling down the stairs right now." Seijuro scoffed as he dismissed his older brother with a flick of the hand but then gracelessly missed the last step on the stairs as he tried to regain his bearings and sense of gravity.

"Nonsense, Eikichi-nii-san. I can assure you that I am fine."

"You look dizzy, Sei-chan."

"I am not, my sense of direction is perfect," said Seijuro. "Now let's go to the next ride." He began to walk off, but Tetsuya called out to him.

"Seijuro-kun."

"Hmm?"

"You're going the wrong way."

"Oh. My bad."

"You're still going the wrong way…"

"Wait, hang on." He stumbled over to Tetsuya and grabbed his arm.

"Lead the way, I am ready." Shuuzo nodded in satisfaction.

"Yosh, let's conquer the rest of them!"

~O~

From there, the gang went on every single roller coaster ride they could find. They managed to conquer all the roller coasters in the park. The Apocalypse, Classic Revolution, Green Devil, Full Throttle, Goliath, Jet Stream, Drop of Doom, Ninja, Superman: Escape from Krypton, Scream, The Riddler's Revenge, Tatsu, Viper, Twisted Colossus, and X2. They experienced so many different loops, twists, drops, corkscrews and zero G-rolls that by the time they finished riding all the attractions, Daiki was a trembling mess, Ryouta's soul was slowly departing from his body, Chihiro looked deathly pale, Eikichi was turning an unusual shade of green, Reo's legs kept shaking, Atsushi was stress-eating, Satsuki was clinging to Tetsuya for balance, Shōgo was on the verge of death, Shintarou was gripping his lucky item like his life depended on it, Seijuro was so dizzy he didn't know which way was up (while trying to deny that his senses had been extremely dulled), and Kotarou was ready to go on the rides all over again. As for the others, namely Taiga, Tatsuya, Alex, and Shuuzo, they were busy trying to keep the rest of the crew alive.

"Right, I think that covers all the roller coasters," Alex said, looking back at the group. "So now it's time for a cooling off period. Let's go back on one of the mild rides. Which one should we do?"

"Something that doesn't have loops, please," Eikichi heaved. "I don't think my insides can take it."

"Hmm… Okay, raise your hand if you can't handle another fast-paced ride." Fifteen hands went up in the air. Alex blinked before shrugging it off and checking the map.

"Carousel ride it is."

The carousel was at least enjoyable for the entirety of the large group. Shintarou originally thought it was childish until Shuuzo threatened to drag him back on the pirate ship ride. Everyone took to choosing where they wanted to sit, the eldest watching as Satsuki climbed onto a pink unicorn or when Seijuro claimed what was, in his words, "the most majestic steed" and when the carousel began to go round, it was impossible for Reo _not_ to take photos of all of them having a good time while his nose bled excessively on the floor and anyone within a five foot radius of him backed away slowly.

It was an understatement to say that they racked up a giant food bill. May God have mercy on whichever food stall that Taiga, Daiki, Eikichi or Atsushi locked eyes with. If you were ever in the same line as any of those four, pray that you're in front of them. Once they ordered, it was guaranteed that no one behind them would get food. Not to mention the overwhelmed kitchen staff, who became extremely baffled when they got an order for thirty burgers when there were only seven people in line. It was bad enough that those four were eating, but so were the other twelve, and the amount of time they spent buying food at all the various stalls could rival the amount of time they spent on all the rides combined. Atsushi was especially giddy to go to any food stall that sold desserts and claimed that he would singlehandedly buy every funnel cake in the park to take back to Japan in his suitcase. Once everyone had eaten, they took themselves around to the game booths set up all over the park.

"So now that we've done everything we wanted to do, we can finally check out the game booths," said Alex. "Which one do you guys wanna do? Any one of these strike your fancy?"

"Ano…"

"GAH!" Alex looked down and saw Tetsuya standing in front of her. "Oh, it's you. What is it?"

"We could try that one." Tetsuya pointed to something in the distance and the group followed his pointing finger to what they saw to be a basketball game. Everyone looked at each other and grinned.

"Well," said Shuuzo. "This should be easy." He nudged the green-haired teenager standing next to him. "Hey Shintarou, you up for the task?" Shintarou sighed.

"Don't be ridiculous, Shuuzo-san." He adjusted his glasses and stepped forward.

"My shots will never miss, nanodayo."

The man running the game center saw Shintarou approach him along with fifteen others. He smiled.

" _Hello, hello, welcome to the basketball challenge!_ " he welcomed. " _Would you like to play?_ "

" _Yes, I would,_ " Shintarou answered. The man gestured to a cart of balls near them.

" _So here are the balls. You have one minute to shoot as many of them as you can into the basket. The size of your prize depends on how many baskets you can make._ " He then gestured to the giant rack of prizes behind him. There were various stuffed animals ranging from small to absolutely ginormous.

" _If you get ten baskets, you get a small prize,_ " the man explained. " _Twenty gets you a medium prize. And thirty, of course, gets you a large prize. You think you're up for it?_ " Shintarou smirked.

" _Just that many? That's child's play._ " The man watched in fascination as he began unraveling the taping on his fingers and flexed his digits.

"Someone hold my lucky item. This shouldn't take long, nanodayo."

…

One minute later the man was on his knees staring in disbelief at the green-haired boy standing in front of him.

" _Impossible… What even are you…_ "

The score read fifty.

Shintarou began re-taping his fingers as he stood over the man once more when he had finished.

" _If that is all, I'll choose my prize._ " The man acknowledged him with a small nod.

" _Y-Yeah… You can choose a big one._ "

The game ended with Midorima victorious with a stuffed Kermit the Frog almost the same height as himself in his arms and the man still in denial. And from there, that was how their second conquering challenge started.

They split into different groups to cover the different gaming sectors with the intent to win all the booths and get the biggest prizes. After leaving Tatsuya and Alex to have another go at the basketball game, they sent Shintarou to sharpshooting where he used his high accuracy to shoot all the targets.

Eikichi went to the Test of Strength where his brute strength came in handy for hitting the button with the hammer so hard he nearly broke the machine.

Reo was sent to the Ring Toss where his elegant technique made his ring fall perfectly onto the golden bottle. Chihiro decided to go to the fishing game and lo and behold with luck on his side he caught the rarest rubber duck in the pond.

Shōgo went to skiiball and the arcade games saying something along the lines "All the days where I ditched school for the arcade built up for this moment" and vanished into the arcade center dragging Daiki behind him with several handfuls of quarters.

Seijuro went to Whack-a-Mole with Ryouta and they tag teamed to hit every single one that popped up on the machine. Seijuro was naturally good at this game, but to secure victory he began using his Emperor Eye to see which mole would come up next, to which Ryouta shouted: "Seijurocchi, that's cheating!"

Tetsuya went to a game where you had to knock a stack of three cups off a platform. Tetsuya didn't have enough accuracy or arm strength to properly throw it, so instead he brought Taiga along, and Taiga would throw him the ball from the side and Tetsuya would then Ignite Pass them to the cups and knock all three of them off with ease.

Kotarou and Shuuzo had exceptional climbing skills and reflexes, so those two decided to go to a game where you had to use a wobbly rope ladder to climb to the other side of the room and hit the button at the top.

Satsuki who was a pro at crane machines simply used her skills to maneuver the crane with ease and get the largest stuffed animals. Atsushi was with her near the crane machines, except he chose the one with candy inside. That was more than enough to motivate him and, for some reason, he entered the zone, allowing him to clean out the entire machine with seventeen quarters. By the time they had grouped back together, they had left all the game centers with absolutely nothing and at there was at least a dozen children around their vicinity in hysterics because a group of kids with weird hair took all the prizes. Shuuzo, with a giant pair of sunglasses on his head and a stuffed pink gorilla that rivaled his height, sighed in satisfaction when they came back together near the entrance.

"Well, that was fun."

"I'll say," said Shōgo, who had a gold-colored ring on every finger, five chains around on his neck a snapback on his head, and a stuffed Bugs Bunny in his arms while he contentedly sucked on a lollipop.

"This was the best trip ever~," Atsushi said through a mouthful of Jolly Ranchers, the rest of his candy in a large plastic bag.

"I think we've done enough damage, however," said Seijuro, who was holding a giant stuffed lion.

"Probably," Tetsuya concurred, holding a giant stuffed tiger. "Everyone here has at least three large prizes and if we keep going we'll be chased by an angry mob of parents." Alex clapped her hands together.

"Yosh! I think we should stop there, then. Everyone grab your things and let's head toward the exit!" With that, the sixteen of them turned and walked out of the amusement park, leaving every stranger who saw them wondering if they were really human.

The lot of them ended up taking several taxis home since you could only fit so many prizes in the trunk. Alex and Tatsuya took their own taxi back to the townhouse and bid the others goodbye at the entrance of the gate, the large group thanking Alex for the amazing day out. During the ride, most of the gang was dead tired, and when they got back to the hotel late at night, luckily, since most people were back in their rooms, they didn't have too much fuss getting everyone up to their rooms. Once they were back in their rooms and they had changed into their pajamas, they all collapsed into their beds.

Day two down, five to go. Tomorrow is another day…

* * *

 **And done! I hope you enjoyed reading this after my long time away. And I hope I won't be out for long this time. Once I've gotten my work done and had a proper rest I'll get onto writing the next chapter sometime near the end of next week. Until I update, you know what to do...**

 **Read and review please!**


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